World Aids Day 2014: Campaigners forecast a 'beginning of the end'

An agency said 13.6 million people worldwide have now access to AIDS drugs, which helped in significantly lowering the number of new infections.

16:43 01 December 2014

Campaigners have claimed that the world has finally reached “the beginning of the end” of the AIDS pandemic.

A leading campaign group fighting HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), confirmed that the number of people infected by the virus is significantly lower due to a more widespread access to essential medicines.

Due to the availability of treatments, only one per cent of babies born to mothers who have HIV are HIV positive. However, the positive result is not yet seen on all parts of the globe.

"We've passed the tipping point in the Aids fight at the global level, but not all countries are there yet, and the gains made can easily stall or unravel," said Erin Hohlfelder, ONE's director of global health policy.

According to ONE, HIV is increasingly concentrated on gay men, sex workers, and hard-to-reach members of the population. The group added that there are about 100,000 people in the UK who are infected with the virus and are believed to be unaware of it.

Hohlfelder cautioned: "We should not take a victory lap yet.”