In May, thousands of participants enrolled for PrEP, a new HIV drug in New South Wales, Australia. The volunteering of residents to put an end to HIV by 2020 has also happened in a number of other states. On Sunday, experts declared that AIDS epidemic had ended in Australia.
Professor Andrew Grulich said the only cases of AIDS patients were those with HIV that was undiagnosed.
"It's a transitory thing for most people," he said. "People have AIDS, then they go on treatment and they don't have AIDS anymore. It's pretty much dealt with as a public health issue."
In the Asia-Pacific region, 180,000 cases of AIDS and 1.2 million cases of HIV are reported per year. The anti-retrovirals have helped more HIV afflicted patients in their 60s and 70s, yet their side-effects have proved to be dangerous for patients too. Pharmaceuticals are trying to bring down the illness without the side-effects.
Every year, about 1,000 HIV diagnoses are made, with 10 percent in an advanced state of infection. The only new cases of the infection currently are those whose undiagnosed HIV cannot be treated.
"Yes, AIDS as a public health threat is over, but that's certainly not the case for HIV in Australia," Professor Grulich said. In the last decade, HIV diagnoses have swung up by 13 percent, according to national data.
