The Asia-Pacific epidemic

Asia and the Pacific countries have made impressive progress in halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic in the last 15 years. New HIV infections have declined 31% between 2000 and 2014. There has been a rapid scale up of antiretroviral treatment, with 1.8 people living with HIV accessing treatment in 2014. This is about a third of everyone living with HIV. There were also 30% fewer AIDS-related deaths in 2014 than in 2005.

Regional overview of the epidemic, 2014

New HIV infections, 2014

People on ART, 2014

These achievements are no accident. Since HIV first emerged the region has been a leader in demonstrating innovation, courage and engagement:

Political leaders from the highest levels of national and local government have shown commitment.
Civil society has constantly pushed the boundaries.
And perhaps most importantly we have seen an incredible partnership between government and communities.

But governments must urgently address several challenges:

While new infections have been following a downward trend during the past 15 years, between 2010 and 2014, they actually rose 3%.
This is worrisome and must be investigated further.
AIDS-related deaths are down but the drop is significantly lower than the global average of 42%.
And while much progress has been made on treatment, it is slower than what we are seeing globally. Particularly when it comes to using ARVs to prevent mother to child transmission.
While 73% of pregnant women living with HIV are on treatment globally, less than 40% in the Asia and Pacific region are accessing treatment.

Laws and policies must not work against people in any way:

The region has made a lot of progress against discrimination, but still too many laws and policies hamper access to services.
18 countries prohibit same-sex relations and 37 countries criminalize some aspect of sex work.
Unless we place the rights of the people at the centre of our work, we will continue to see the virus gaining ground.