Vorstellungen » For her part, Audrey Azoulay, the Di

Photo taken on Dec. 1 Justin Abdelkader Jersey , 2017 shows a poster with red ribbon logo on the exterior wall of a government building in downtown Brussels, Belgium, on the occasion of World Aids Day. (XinhuaYe Pingfan)
by Xinhua writer Wang Jiangang


UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- People with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are living longer and healthier than at any time since the outset of the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) epidemic in 1981. On World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1, the United Nations is sending out a cheering message -- the goal of wiping out the epidemic by 2030 appears within reach.


BIG STRIDES


Almost 21 million of the 36.7 million people worldwide living with HIV had access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2017 -- a huge jump from the 685,000 people undergoing treatment in 2000.


Deaths related to AIDS fell to 1 million in 2016 from 1.9 million in 2005 Jonathan Quick Jersey , according to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIVAIDS. If not treated, HIV can lead to AIDS.


This progress puts the world on track to reach the global target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020, Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of UNAIDS said in his message on the Day.


UNAIDS data show substantial progress has been made toward reaching the "90-90-90" target designed to help wipe out AIDS by 2030. The goal calls for 90 percent of people living with HIV to know their HIV status by 2020; 90 percent of those diagnosed to receive sustained ART; and 90 percent of individuals on ART to achieve viral suppression.


"More than two-thirds of all people living with HIV globally knew their HIV status in 2016," Sidibe noted. "Among those who knew their HIV status, 77 percent were accessing antiretroviral therapy and 82 percent of people on treatment had suppressed viral loads."


The availability of affordable John Carlson Jersey , generic antiretroviral medicines has made HIV treatment accessible, he said.


The 1.8 million people who were newly infected in 2016 represent a 39 percent drop from the 3 million who became infected at the peak of the epidemic in the late 1990s, according to UNAIDS.


AIDS is no longer the high-profile public health menace it once was thanks to the discovery in 2011 that antiretroviral treatment can not only suppress HIV in the bloodstream and reduce the risk of spreading the virus, but also, some experts predict, eventually end the epidemic.


FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT


"The right to health is a fundamental human right, everybody has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health Joe Pavelski Jersey , as enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights," Sidibe noted.


The world will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include the target of ending AIDS by 2030, without people attaining their right to health, Sidibe said Friday, marking World AIDS Day with a strong appeal for the full realization of this fundamental right by everyone Jamie Langenbrunner Jersey , everywhere.


Indeed, the right to health is linked to all the SDGs and "is interrelated with a range of other rights, including the rights to sanitation, food, decent housing, healthy working conditions and a clean environment."


Sidibe pointed out the most marginalized and affected still face challenges in accessing urgently-needed health and social services, asserting "we all must continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the people being left behind and demand that no one is denied their human rights."


"For all the successes James van Riemsdyk Jersey , AIDS is not yet over. But by ensuring that everyone, everywhere accesses their right to health, it can be," he concluded.


For her part, Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Jack Johnson Jersey , stressed the right to quality education for all, because the two goals -- health and education -- go hand in hand. "This link