It's "the beginning of the end" of the AIDS pandemic according to a leading HIV fighting campaign group.
"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," Erin Hohlfelder, global health policy director of ONE campaign, an advocacy group working to end poverty and preventable disease in Africa, said to Reuters.
Hohlfelder's statement supports the statistics showing the number of newly infected people with HIV over the last year is decreasing, while also noting that the world still has a long way to go before the virus is completely cured.
"Despite the good news, we should not take a victory lap yet," Hohlfelder added to Reuters.
The AIDS pandemic begun 30 years ago, killing up to 40 million people globally. The effects and progress of the deadly disease is being discussed today on an international level in recognition of World AIDS Day.
Thirty years later there is still no cure for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS and is spread via blood, semen and breast milk. Existing antiretroviral drugs can prolong the AIDS virus from killing a person although they cannot completely rid the body of the disease, reported Reuters.
About 13.6 million people worldwide had access to AIDS drugs by June 2014, according to the United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS).