Health and poverty diseases

The AIDS epidemic is one of the biggest challenges to reaching the MDGs. Globally around 33 million people were estimated to be living with HIV and AIDS in 2007. Most of them are young, female and live in Africa.

The global percentage of people living with HIV has stabilized since 2000. However, the overall number of people living with HIV has increased as a result of the ongoing number of new infections each year and the beneficial effects of more widely available antiretroviral therapy. Sub-Saharan Africa remains most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for 67% of all people living with HIV and for 72% of AIDS deaths in 2007. The global epidemic is stabilizing but at an unacceptably high level. The annual number of new HIV infections declined from 3.0 million [2.6 million—3.5 million] in 2001 to 2.7 million [2.2 million—3.2 million] in 2007. The rate of new HIV infections has fallen in several countries, although globally these favourable trends are at least partially offset by increases in new infections in other countries.

Progress remains uneven, and the epidemic’s future is still uncertain.

Tackling HIV/AIDS is a top priority for the EU and is enshrined in the 2005 European Consensus on Development as a cross-cutting issue that must be integrated in all policy sectors and all aspects of development and humanitarian responses. The EU has a long-term and comprehensive approach on HIV/AIDS (balancing the need for universal access to prevention, treatment, care, support and research) in the context of overall development in support of national priorities.

The EU is active at all levels and two action plans are currently in place: the Action Plan on combating HIV/AIDS within the EU and in the neighbouring countries (2006-2009) and the European Programme for Action to confront HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis through external action (2007-2011). The latter is mainly intended to fight these poverty diseases in developing countries.

The EU will continue working in the area of HIV/AIDS in coordination with all relevant stakeholders and through a wide array of financing instruments both at country, regional and global level, including through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (which receives most of its funding from the EU). In particular, the November 2009 GAERC adopted a Programme for action to confront HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

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