‘33.3 Million People Live With HIV’

The Daily Observer (Banjul)

Omar Wally

28 April 2011

Nuha Ceesay, the UNAIDS country officer in The Gambia, says that global estimates complied jointly by UNAIDS and WHO indicate that HIV infected close to 60 million people and killed nearly 25 million in the course of the quarter of a century. He said it is also estimated that 33.3 million people were living with HIV as at December 2009, with almost half of them women.

Ceesay made this remarks recently during a media briefing on UNAIDS gender agenda on the high-level meeting on universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support held at Tango. He also revealed that it is estimated that nearly 7,000 people are newly infected with HIV everyday.

Ceesay informed the gathering that the forthcoming high-level meeting on universal access on AIDS is scheduled to take place from 8-10 June 2011 at the UN headquarters in New York. “This high-level meeting has come at a crucial moment for global AIDS response in that deadline for achieving key goals and targets unanimously set by the member states in other to revise the pandemic, including the goal to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support expired at the end of 2010,” he stated.

According to him, it is apparent that without urgent and long-term action, the epidemic will continue to take an unacceptable toll of death and suffering in countries and communities throughout the world. He continued: “The universal access is a dream that must be met and we shall not relent until the day we are all collectively able to ensure that, no one living with HIV is stigmatised, excluded, shut out, all young people know how to protect themselves from infection.

“No infant is born infected with HIV and no mother dies of AIDS-related illness, children orphaned by AIDS have the same prospect as other children, Antiretroviral therapy is essential care for anyone living with HIV and is accessible universally and an affordable vaccine is available for all.” The UNAIDS country officer disclosed that recent data from parts of the world and Africa show encouraging signs of reduction in the prevalence of HIV. 22 of the countries most affected by HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, with the number of new infections reducing by more than 25 percent.

Alieu Jammeh, the director of National AIDS Secretarial (NAS), described the press briefing as very important. He said such endeavours should continue so that journalists will keep on informing on what UNAIDS is doing. “We are planning to send delegates to the high-level meeting at UN. It is important for the people of the country to be aware of what we are doing in terms of our level of preparation and what we are contributing in the response,” he added.

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