This is according to the Global AIDS Update Report, released by UNAIDS. The report, titled – AIDS, Crisis and the Power to Transform, noted that over the last 15 years, there has been a 54 per cent decline in AIDS-related deaths globally. The report credits the widespread availability of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for the progress made since 2010.

Reductions have also been recorded in West & Central Africa (60 per cent), Eastern & Southern Africa (59 per cent), Asia & the Pacific (53 per cent), Western & Central Europe and North America (48 per cent), Latin America (31 per cent) and the Middle East & North Africa (six per cent) while Eastern Europe & Central Asia reported a 48 per cent increase over the same period. UNAIDS on Thursday commended governments, communities of people living with and most affected by HIV, and key partners, including PEPFAR and The Global Fund, among others for the progress made across the region.

“The Caribbean’s stellar performance and achievements are commendable. It shows the resilience of a region constrained by a myriad of social, economic and other challenges such as high debt, declining external funding, and natural disasters and how critical political leadership is to safeguard people’s health without distinction,” said Dr Richard Amenyah, the director of UNAIDS Multi-Country Office in the Caribbean. (Jamaica Gleaner)