HIV cases increased in some parts of the worldExBulletin

Cheryl Corey, Host:

Over the past two decades, new HIV infections have declined globally. This is great news, but a new report out this week reveals some troubling information. The Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS, also known as UNAIDS, says new HIV infections fell between 2020 and 2021, the smallest annual decline in six years. More worryingly, infections have increased in several regions, including Asia-Pacific, the world’s most populous region. If not properly treated, HIV infection can progress to AIDS, and the United Nations previously set a goal of ending AIDS by 2030. Here, Matthew Cavanaugh details the report and what needs to be done to reduce the number of new HIV infections. He is his UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. Welcome.

MATTHEW KAVANAGH: Thank you for inviting me.

CORLEY: So the annual rate of decline in HIV infections is the lowest in years, and we are seeing increases in some regions. What do you think drives the numbers?

KAVANAGH: So the combination of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and the ensuing economic crisis has really undermined the global response to AIDS. As you said, we’re looking at multiple regions right now, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, the Middle East. And now, for the first time, the Asia-Pacific region, which has seen a decline in new infections, is seeing an increase in new HIV infections. This is highly alarming and caused by the impact of these multiple crises on the public health response to the AIDS pandemic.

CORLEY: You’re talking about where these numbers are increasing. Who is most infected?

Cabana: So what we’re seeing in 2022 is HIV being increasingly driven by a series of global and regional inequalities. A gay man or any other man who has sex with men around the world has her HIV infection rate 28 times higher than that of people of the same sex at her age. Young women in Africa face great challenges with HIV. A young woman is three times more likely to be infected with HIV than a boy or young man of the same age. And really, we now think of this as a gendered pandemic, and a pandemic deeply characterized by other inequalities.

CORLEY: Well, it’s kind of interesting. Because you mentioned earlier all the other factors and conditions that could affect it. The COVID-19 pandemic you talked about. Monkeypox outbreak and war in Ukraine. All that makes this virus harder to fight. And how do you get on track?

Cabana: What we have now is a colliding pandemic. We are infected with HIV. COVID-19 is still claiming many lives. There is a monkeypox epidemic right now. And all this is happening in the midst of war. And the really important question is, do we really care about the lives of adolescent young women in East and Southern Africa? Do we really care about the lives of gay men and people around the world? You’re talking about a drop in a bucket, right? Of course, with wealthy nations around the world pouring trillions of dollars into COVID recovery and more, the core issue will be political will.

The core question is, can we find solidarity for AIDS that has been really hard to find with COVID-19? At the same time, I hope to find it in monkeypox as well. If we can switch the agenda here and really get some political dials in motion that don’t require as much energy, I think we can get back on track. In fact, we think it’s possible, but the next year or two will determine whether we reach that goal or not.

Corey: Hmm. Does anything in this report give you any hope in the fight against HIV?

KAVANAGH: There are many hopeful works here. As you know, some places have seen marked declines – Nigeria, South Africa and others. And one of the lessons for us is that the central question in the pandemic is, have we funded community organizations? Have we built the kind of community infrastructure that can fight the pandemic? And where I have it, I’m very hopeful.

CORLEY: It was Matthew Kavanagh, Deputy Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS. Thank you for your participation.

KAVANAGH: Thank you for your attention to this issue.

Copyright © 2022 NPR. all rights reserved.Visit our website terms of service When permission page of www.npr.org for more information.

NPR transcripts are produced by NPR contractors on a rush deadline. This text may not be in final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative recordings of NPR’s shows are audio recordings.