The UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic
features data from countries regarding the progress made in meeting the targets set in the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS in 2001. The data is based on reports received from 126 countries and civil society groups in over 30 countries.
- Important progress has been made since the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, yet there is extraordinary diversity in the response to HIV between countries and regions.
- While select countries have reached key targets and milestones for 2005, many countries have failed to fulfill the pledges specified in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, adopted by UN Member States in 2001.
- Some countries have made great strides in expanding access to treatment, but have made little progress in bringing HIV prevention programmes to scale, while other countries that are now experiencing a reduction in national HIV prevalence are making only slow progress to ensure that treatment is available to those who need it.
- In most countries, a strong foundation now exists on which to build an effective AIDS response, with increasing political commitment and partner coordination at country level.
- Annual funding for AIDS in low- and middle-income countries has increased 28-fold since UNAIDS was created in 1996 -- from US$300 million to US$ 8.3 billion in 2005.
- Domestic public expenditure from governments has also significantly increased in low-income sub-Saharan African countries, and more moderately in middle-income countries. In 2005, domestic resources reached US$ 2.5 billion.
- Treatment access has dramatically expanded over the past five years in developing countries -- from 240,000 people accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2001, to 1.3 million people in 2005. To date, 21 countries have met or exceeded targets under the "3 by 5" initiative to provide treatment to at least 50% of those who need it.
- The number of people using HIV testing and counselling services quadrupled in the past five years in more than 70 countries surveyed, from roughly 4 million people in 2001 to 16.5 million in 2005.
- In 58 countries reporting data, 74% of primary schools and 81% of secondary schools now provide AIDS education.
- In eight of 11 sub-Saharan countries studied, the percentage of young people having sex before age 15 declined and condom use increased over the past five years.
- Six of 11 African countries heavily affected by HIV reported a decline of 25% or more in HIV prevalence among 15- to 24-year-olds in capital cities.
- Some countries have achieved nearly 60% coverage of HIV-positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral prophylaxis to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
- Blood for use in transfusions is now routinely screened for HIV in most countries.
- HIV prevention programmes are failing to reach those at greatest risk. Efforts to increase knowledge about AIDS among young people remain inadequate.
- Although the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS aimed for 90% of young people to be knowledgeable about AIDS by 2005, surveys indicate that fewer than 50% of young people achieved comprehensive knowledge levels.
- In low- and middle-income countries, only 9% of men who have sex with men received any type of HIV prevention service in 2005; fewer than 20% of injecting drug users received HIV prevention services, with coverage of less than 10% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where drug use is a major driver of HIV.
- Services to prevent HIV infections in infants have not scaled up as rapidly as programmes to provide antiretroviral therapy, with just 9% of pregnant women being covered in low- and middle-income countries.
- Civil society reports from over 30 developing countries indicate that stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV remains pervasive.
- National governments, international partners and communities are failing to provide adequate care and support for the 15 million children orphaned by AIDS, and for millions of other children made vulnerable by the epidemic.
- Antiretroviral coverage varies considerably within regions. In sub-Saharan Africa, treatment coverage ranges from 3% in the Central African Republic to 85% in Botswana. While more than 80% of people in Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela are receiving treatment, only 29% have access to it in Paraguay and 37% in Bolivia. In India, which may soon have the world's largest population of people living with HIV, antiretroviral coverage was only 7% in 2005. In the Russian Federation, 5% of people needing treatment had access to it.