At the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria 2010, new reports on the progress made towards reduction of HIV and challenges towards ensuring universal access to prevention, treatment and care is made by UNAIDS and others in the field.

Young People are leading the HIV prevention revolution

One of the exciting news comes from a report by UNAIDS showing that young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution. HIV prevalence trends in 16 countries show decline among young people 15-24 years, decline are largely due to falling new HIV infections among young people, decline of 25% or more in 15 out of 21 countries most affected by HIV. This change is happening among young people across the world, especially in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Waiting longer to become sexually active, young people have fewer multiple partners and there's an increased use of condom among those with multiple partners. And HIV prevalence among young people is dropping in many key countries. The report indicate high-burden countries that have achieved a 25% reduction in HIV prevalence among young people by 2010 are Botswana, Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Study of Microbicide Gel shows reduced risk of HIV & Herpes infection in Women

Researches have achieved an important scientific breakthrough in the fight against HIV and genital herpes with a vaginal gel that significantly reduces a women's risk of being infected with this virus according to a report by the Center for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) at the XVIII International Aids conference in Vienna..

Funding short falls

"dwindling donations from rich countries imperils the 2006 U.N. and G8 goal of providing universal access to HIV drugs by 2010, AIDS campaigners warned," according to the news service (Ingham, 7/18). According to a joint report on support for HIV/AIDS by donor nations released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and UNAIDS on Sunday, "in 2009, the Group of Eight (G8) nations, European Commission and other donor governments provided US$7.6 billion for AIDS efforts in developing nations, compared with US$7.7 billion in 2008," IRIN/PlusNews reports (7/19).

The report came one day after "[t]he International HIV/AIDS Alliance warned ... that the annual cost of tackling the HIV epidemic could balloon to $35 billion (22.9 billion pounds) by [2031] if governments fail to invest in efficient, targeted and cost-effective prevention measures," Reuters reports (Kelland, 7/17).

AIDS 2010 is witnessing this progresses and challenges in the fight against HIV/AIDS.