All Africa, 21 July 2014

HIV/Aids, one of Africa's biggest killer, may be no more or will be under control in the next 20 or so years if medication is availed to everyone infected and awareness spread, statistics show.

A report by the United Nations Aids Agency states that the number of new HIV infections and deaths have reduced, this is however not the general picture because some people still lack access to the much needed medication.

The report showed that 35 million people around the world were living with HIV. There were 2.1 million new cases in 2013 - 38% less than the 3.4 million figures in 2001.

Aids-related deaths have fallen by a fifth in the past three years, standing at 1.5 million a year. South Africa and Ethiopia have particularly improved which were some of the most affected country in the region.

The reduction in spread of the dreaded virus is as a result of introduction of ARVS, and importantly, the infected accepting to take them. Circumcision of men has also helped reduce spread because many men now opt to go for the cut which reduces the risk of spread.

And just 15 countries account for three-quarters of all new HIV infections and this is attributed to the two factors, medicine and circumcision.

Michel Sidibe, the executive director of UNAids, added: "If we accelerate all HIV scale-up by 2020, we will be on track to end the epidemic by 2030, if not, we risk significantly increasing the time it would take - adding a decade, if not more," he told the BBC.

The Unaids report came ahead of the International Aids Society meeting in Melbourne this week.

For instance in Kenya, the National Aids Control Council in June raised concern that 51 per cent of children infected with the HIV virus in Embu county did not have access to anti-retroviral drugs.

This was despite the availability of ARVs in the country that has been available in the country for the last eight years that was authorized by former President Mwai Kibaki.

In 2006, Kibaki announced that antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) would be provided for free in public hospitals and health centres. This came in handy at a time when people infected with the virus could hardly afford the pills to boost their immunity as well as prolong their lives.

The free ARVs led to reduced deaths of HIV patients with the National adult HIV prevalence estimated to have fallen from 10 percent in the late 1990s to about 6.1 percent in 2005.

Normally it takes about ten years for Aids to develop but patients taking antiretroviral drugs can keep their HIV infection under control and have a near-normal life expectancy.

Some 54% of people living with HIV do not know they are infected and 63% are not getting antiretroviral therapy.

By William Mwangi

Sumber: All Africa