New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have fallen to their lowest levels in more than 30 years, according to a new UNAIDS report released ahead of the 26th International AIDS Conference in Rio de Janeiro.
The report points to substantial progress in prevention, treatment access and viral suppression, while also warning that continued action is needed if governments and international partners are to meet global targets on ending AIDS.
UNAIDS said seven countries — Benin, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Nepal, Rwanda and Zimbabwe — had achieved an almost 80% reduction in new HIV infections since 2010. The agency said the reductions showed that rapid progress was possible where prevention and treatment programmes were expanded and sustained.
The report also found that 11 countries had achieved the “95-95-95” treatment targets. These targets mean that 95% of all people living with HIV know their status, 95% of those diagnosed with HIV are accessing antiretroviral therapy, and 95% of those receiving treatment are virally suppressed.
Viral suppression is a key public health measure because effective antiretroviral therapy can reduce the amount of HIV in a person’s blood to levels that protect their health and prevent onward sexual transmission. UNAIDS has long used the 95-95-95 framework as a benchmark for national HIV responses.
The agency highlighted advances in HIV prevention medicines as one of the most significant developments in the global response. In a statement accompanying the report, UNAIDS said: “The world is on the cusp of an HIV prevention revolution in prevention medicines which offer close to vaccine like protection against HIV.”
It added: “Monthly and six-month injections are slowly trickling into the market, and monthly pills are in late-stage trials. What is coming to market and in the pipeline is extraordinary.”
The report said Brazil had increased the number of people accessing HIV prevention medicines at least once in the past year by 41%. It also said Ethiopia and Uganda had taken action to expand access using domestic and other funding sources.
South Africa, which has one of the world’s largest HIV treatment programmes, is continuing to negotiate pricing deals for lenacapavir, a twice-yearly injectable HIV prevention medicine. UNAIDS and other global health bodies have identified pricing and access as central issues for the next stage of HIV prevention.
Recent trial data have increased attention on lenacapavir. Results from the Purpose 1 trial showed no HIV infections among 3,200 young female participants, according to the source material. The outcome has been cited by advocates as a major development for HIV prevention, particularly for people who may face barriers to taking daily prevention pills.
UNITAID, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and partner organisations have pooled funding to begin rolling out lenacapavir, with the aim of reaching 3 million people by 2028.
UNAIDS said the progress described in the report had taken place despite major pressures on health systems and funding. It called for renewed commitment from governments and partners to meet the goals set out in the UN Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS adopted this year.
Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, said: “Despite enormous challenges ending AIDS is still within reach. At AIDS 2026 UNAIDS is urging all partners and governments to remobilize and push forward to achieve the ambitious targets in the Political Declaration.”
The report’s findings come at a point when the global HIV response is increasingly focused on combining established treatment programmes with newer prevention tools. Antiretroviral therapy remains central to keeping people living with HIV healthy, while pre-exposure prophylaxis and long-acting medicines are being promoted as ways to reduce new infections.
However, UNAIDS has repeatedly warned that progress is uneven between countries and communities. The latest report identifies countries that have achieved major reductions in new infections and those that have met treatment targets, but it also frames these gains as part of a broader effort that still requires political commitment, funding and equitable access to medicines.
The agency said the current pipeline of prevention medicines could change the trajectory of the epidemic if they are made affordable and available at scale. Its message ahead of the Rio de Janeiro conference is that scientific advances and proven public health measures have brought the world closer to ending AIDS, but that the gains must be protected and extended.
