New UNAids data shows that one person died every minute from an Aids-related illness in 2021.
It also estimates that “every two minutes in 2021, an adolescent girl or young woman was newly infected with HIV”.
The report – titled In Danger – was released at this year’s Global UNAids conference in Montreal, Canada.
Globally, women and girls accounted for 49% of all new infections in 2021. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, they accounted for 63% of all new infections in the same year.
At least 1.5 million people were newly infected with HIV last year according to the data.
The report further shows that new HIV infections are rising where they had previously been falling.
Winnie Byanyima, the UNAids executive director said the data revealed in this report will disturb and shock – but the report is not a counsel of despair.
She added that it is a call to action and failure would be fatal, but it is not inevitable.
Globally there are 38.4 million people living with HIV. Eastern and southern Africa bear the highest global burden with more than half of the people (20.6 million) being accounted for in this region.
Source: BBC
