China's National Health Commission said on Monday that nearly zero cases of HIV caused by blood transfusion were reported during the country's 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) while a significant drop has been seen in infections transmitted via other routes, such as mother-to-fetus transmission and drug injections.

According to the commission, there were about 1.04 million reported HIV cases in China by the end of October, more than 95 percent of which were caused by sexual transmission. From January to October, 112,000 new infections of HIV were reported.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has urged unremitting efforts for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS ahead of the annual World AIDS Day, which falls on December 1.

He called for improving the system and relevant mechanisms for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, achieving sci-tech breakthroughs in this regard and ensuring the supply of medicines.

Affirming the country's notable progress in preventing and treating the disease over the past five years, Li called for greater efforts in the endeavor to reduce the spread.

He also underscored the importance of providing financial aid and humanitarian care to infected people who are in difficulty and giving full play to the role of society in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.

COVID-19 could result in more HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths

The latest report from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic could result in 123,000 to 293,000 new HIV infections and 69,000 to 148,000 additional AIDS-related deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2022.

In a report titled "Prevailing against pandemics by putting people at the center" which was published on November 26, UNAIDS warned that the global AIDS response was off track even before COVID-19. It set triple 90s targets years ago – that by 2020, 90 percent of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90 percent who know their status are receiving treatment, and 90 percent on HIV treatment have a suppressed viral load. However, the rapid spread of the coronavirus has created additional setbacks.

For the world to be back on track to ending AIDS by 2030, as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), UNAIDS called on countries to make far greater investments in global pandemic responses and adopt a new set of bold, ambitious but achievable HIV targets.

"The collective failure to invest sufficiently in comprehensive, rights-based, people-centered HIV responses has come at a terrible price," UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said in a press release on November 26. "Implementing just the most politically palatable programs will not turn the tide against COVID-19 or end AIDS. To get the global response back on track will require putting people first and tackling the inequalities on which epidemics thrive."

UNAIDS has since proposed a new set of targets for 2025 that, if achieved, will make the UNSDGs of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 possible. Those include achieving a number of 95-percent targets by 2025 – 95 percent of women of reproductive age have their HIV, sexual and reproductive health service needs met; 95 percent of pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV have suppressed viral loads; 95 percent of HIV-exposed children are tested; and 95 percent of people at risk of HIV infection use appropriate, prioritized, person-centered and effective combination prevention options.

The 2025 targets also include ambitious anti-discrimination goals, such as that less than ten percent of countries have punitive laws and policies, that less than ten percent of people living with and affected by HIV experience stigma and discrimination, and that less than ten percent experience gender inequality and violence.

Faced with the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the UNAIDS chief has reiterated her call for global solidarity and for the world to learn from the mistakes of the HIV response. "No country can defeat these pandemics on its own," Byanyima said. "A challenge of this magnitude can only be defeated by forging global solidarity, accepting a shared responsibility and mobilizing a response that leaves no one behind. We can do this by sharing the load and working together."

According to the UNAIDS, 1.7 million new HIV infections and 690,000 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses were recorded in 2019. Globally, 38 million people are living with HIV, with more than 12 million people waiting for life-saving HIV treatment.

(With input from Xinhua; cover image via CFP)