UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic 2012

The global community has embarked on an historic quest to lay the foundation for the eventual end of the AIDS epidemic.

This effort is more than merely visionary. It is entirely feasible. Unprecedented gains have been achieved in reducing the number of both adults and children newly infected with HIV, in lowering the numbers of people dying from AIDS-related causes and in implementing enabling policy frameworks that accelerate progress. A new era of hope has emerged in countries and communities across the world that had previously been devastated by AIDS.

However, a world in which AIDS has been eliminated can only be achieved through renewed and sustained commitment and solidarity and only if the available evidence and limited resources are used as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Recognizing the genuine opportunity to plan for the end of AIDS, countries pledged in the 2011 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS (1) to take specific steps to achieve ambitious goals by 2015. Drawing from the 2011 Political Declaration, UNAIDS has articulated 10 specific targets for 2015 to guide collective action.

1. Reduce sexual transmission by 50%.
2. Reduce HIV transmission among people who inject drugs by 50%.
3. Eliminate new infections among children and substantially reduce the number of mothers dying from AIDS-related causes.
4. Provide antiretroviral therapy to 15 million people.
5. Reduce the number of people living with HIV who die from tuberculosis by 50%.
6. Close the global AIDS resource gap and reach annual global investment of US$ 22 billion to US$ 24 billion in low- and middle-income countries.
7. Eliminate gender inequalities and gender-based abuse and violence and increase the capacity of women and girls to protect themselves from HIV.
8. Eliminate stigma and discrimination against people living with and affected by HIV by promoting laws and policies that ensure the full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.
9. Eliminate restrictions for people living with HIV on entry, stay and residence.
10. Eliminate parallel systems for HIV-related services to strengthen the integration of the AIDS response in global health and development efforts.

In embracing the targets in the 2011 Political Declaration, countries committed to monitor and report on progress and challenges encountered in their national AIDS responses. To facilitate biennial reporting on national progress, UNAIDS collaborated with partners to develop a set of core indicators against which countries would report. In 2012, 186 countries submitted comprehensive reports on progress in their national AIDS response. With 96% of the 193 United Nations Member States reporting in 2012, the Global AIDS Response Progress Reporting system has among the highest response rates of any international health and development monitoring mechanism – a vivid reflection of the breadth and depth of global commitment to the response to AIDS.

Drawing on information provided by countries, this report summarizes the current situation in the effort to reach the 2015 targets set forth in the 2011 Political Declaration. In addition to providing a snapshot of the current situation for each target, it identifies key trends. Using a scorecard approach on key indicators, the report allows individual countries to compare their own achievements with those of others. Regional breakdowns enable comparison of progress between different parts of the world. This report highlights instances where recommended policies and programmes have yet to be implemented.

As part of global AIDS response monitoring, countries have completed extensive surveys on national AIDS policy frameworks. The National Commitments and Policies Instrument obtains information on the process of national strategizing on AIDS, engagement of civil society and other key constituencies as well as policy approaches for HIV prevention and treatment.

The results summarized here are encouraging, since progress achieved to date conclusively demonstrates the feasibility of achieving the targets set in the 2011 Political Declaration. However, the findings also reveal that, to reach most of those targets by 2015, a significant additional effort is required.

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