Stephen Lewis, the former NDP leader and United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, told CTV Chief Anchor Lisa LaFlamme on World AIDS Day that although progress has been made, much more effort is needed to make the disease history.
Here are five things to know about the ongoing epidemic in 2016:
1. Only about half of the world鈥檚 36.7 million HIV-AIDS patients receive treatment with life-saving anti-retroviral medications.
鈥淭here are over 18 million people now in treatment who no longer have a death sentence,鈥� Lewis said.
鈥淏ut, believe it or not, there are slightly more than 18 million who still require treatment and as yet don鈥檛 yet have it.鈥�
2. Seven Canadians Men who have sex with men, injection drug users and indigenous people have a higher risk.
鈥淚n Canada there are a number of failings, frankly,鈥� Lewis said. 鈥淥ne of them is that we need more safe-injection sites for injecting drug users so that the exchange of needles doesn鈥檛 transmit the infection.鈥�
鈥淲e also need a much greater concentration in aboriginal communities whose health standards as we know have been deplorably neglected over the years,鈥� he said.
3. Women are also at risk. There are 7,500 new infections every week among young women and girls between the ages of 15 and 24 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got a terrible aspect of misogyny and the vulnerability of women and girls which are causing enormous problems for that continent,鈥� Lewis said. That鈥檚 why he鈥檚 hopeful that an will soon 鈥済ive women control over the sexual relationships which they haven鈥檛 had.鈥�
4. While the annual spending on HIV-AIDS worldwide has increased from US-$5 billion in 2000 to US-$19 billion, the another US-$7 billion is needed.
Not only are half of those infected not yet receiving drugs, but Lewis points out that infection rates are actually increasing in parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe.
鈥淭he community-based organizations on the ground which do most of the work are starving,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey just do not have the resources in order to handle HIV.鈥�
5. There are reasons to be hopeful, including a that began this week in South Africa.
鈥淚f we got a vaccine in conjunction with the anti-retroviral drugs,鈥� according to Lewis, 鈥渢hen we could reasonably bring an end to this pandemic by the year 2030, 2040.鈥�
