New HIV infections have been reduced by 17 per cent over the past eight years. Since 2001, according to new data.

According to the UN report, half the world’s population who need HIV treatment are getting it.

Africa still has the highest rate of HIV infections.

Since 2001, when the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was signed, the number of new infections has dropped by 15 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, 25 percent in South Asia and 10 percent in Southeast Asia, according to the joint report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO).

“The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS.

“However, the findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that if we do a better job of getting resources and programmes to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved.”

World HIV Infections On The Decline: Report