On the mend

Are we heading towards an HIV/Aids-free generation? Well, with a 35% drop in new infections compared to 15 years ago, we might just be.

While sub-Saharan Africa still bears the brunt of the global burden – with nearly 26 million people living with the disease – UNAIDS reported that since 2000 new cases had fallen by just over a third. Since 2010 alone there has been an almost 40% drop in new infections in the region.

This significant development, according to a Mail & Guardian report, can be attributed to numerous factors. One of them is the change in HIV testing rates, with more than 50% of adults living with the disease in sub-Saharan Africa being aware of their status.

Several countries have shown impressive results. In Zimbabwe, for example, Aids-related deaths among children under the age of five declined from 17 000 in 2000 to 3 400 in 2014 while in South Africa numbers dropped from 25 000 to 3 800 during the same period.