In 2018, around 770 thousand people died of HIV in the world, which is a third less than in 2010. This is stated in the report of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS), released on Tuesday, July 16.

It is indicated that the reduction in mortality is associated with an increase in the availability of treatment, primarily in Eastern and Southern Africa.

At the same time, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, mortality from AIDS increased by 5% over the same period, and in the Middle East and North Africa by 9%.

In 2018, approximately 1.7 million people were diagnosed with HIV, which is 16% less than in 2010. The UN also believes that the main contribution to the negative trend was made by the progress in the fight against the virus in the east and southern Africa.

According to statistics, three out of five HIV-infected people — 23.3 million out of 37.9 million — are receiving antiretroviral therapy and cannot continue to transmit the virus.

UNAIDS also announced an increasing gap between the need for resources to fight HIV infections and their availability, that is, that donors began to allocate less money for these purposes. The organization also expressed concern about the slowing down of progress in the fight against AIDS and the fact that in some countries work is progressing more successfully than in others.