UNAIDS has proposed a new set of bold, ambitious but achievable HIV targets for 2025. Modelling has shown that if the targets promoting favourable societal environments are met, 440 000 AIDS-related deaths would be averted and 2.6 million additional new HIV infections would be prevented. Related modelling has also shown that countries with more enabling societal and legal environments—defined as societies that are gender-equal, free from stigma and discrimination, and with improved access to justice where punitive laws have been lifted and where joint action is taken with the broader development sector—had stronger positive correlations between HIV service coverage and HIV impacts.

For example, countries with better societal enabling environments are associated with bigger declines in HIV incidence over the past 10 years than countries with worse enabling environments having the same level of condom use by men at the last high-risk sex encounter. Read more via UNAIDS

Attaining UNAIDS’ proposed societal and legal barrier targets could stop 440 000 AIDS-related deaths

UNAIDS has called on countries to make far greater investments in global pandemic responses and adopt a new set of bold, ambitious but achievable HIV targets for 2025.

An analysis was performed focused on available studies that have quantitatively measured the negative impact that stigma and discrimination and the criminalization of sex work, drug use and same-sex sexual relationships would have on HIV prevention, testing and treatment efforts.

The analysis suggests that failure to make any progress on HIV-related stigma and discrimination would undermine efforts to reach the HIV testing, treatment and viral suppression targets, resulting in an additional 440 000 AIDS-related deaths between 2020 and 2030, and that failure to make any progress across all societal enablers would undermine efforts to reach HIV prevention targets, resulting in 2.6 million additional new HIV infections over the same period. Read morevia UNAIDS