BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Outgoing United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday urged the world to do more to eradicate the HIV/AIDS virus, even as he acknowledged that 35 years since its emergence, the international community can look back with some pride.

Ban, who is due to leave office this year, said “we must also look ahead with resolve and commitment to reach our goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030”.

He said in a message to mark World AIDS Day today that there has been real progress in tackling the disease.

“More people than ever are on treatment. Since 2010, the number of children infected through mother-to-child transmission has dropped by half. Fewer people die of AIDS-related causes each year. And people living with HIV are living longer lives.”

Ban said that the number of people with access to life-saving medicines has doubled over the past five years, now topping 18 million.

“With the right investments, the world can get on the fast-track to achieve our target of 30 million people on treatment by 2030. Access to HIV medicines to prevent mother-to-child transmission is now available to more than 75 percent of those in need.”

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sibide said 18.2 million people are on antiretroviral treatment, but warns that the ages between 15-24 years are a highly dangerous time for young women.

“We need to take those new infections very seriously; we don’t want to be surprised by a rebound in the epidemic. Prevention should be essential to our efforts in the future, but prevention should not be working against treatment,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is urging governments and society in the Caribbean to intensify nine measures to end the epidemic by 2030.

PAHO said “Take the Challenge; End AIDS” is its campaign slogan for World AIDS Day, and that the use of condoms and lubricants, HIV testing in areas frequented by the most at-risk populations, and expanding access to pre-exposure (PrEP) are some of the measures that, if reinforced, could help end AIDS as a public health problem within 15 years.

“HIV remains a threat to global health and requires a strategic global and regional response,” said PAHO’s Dominican-born director, Dr Carissa F Etienne.

“We must intensify efforts in combined prevention, early detection and access to treatment, which are the keys to halting transmission of the virus in the coming years,” she added.

PAHO said nearly two million people are living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Each year 100,000 people acquire the virus and 50,000 die from AIDS-related causes, PAHO said.

It said that between 2000 and 2015, new HIV infections were reduced by 25 per cent and deaths by 23 per cent.

However, in the last five years, there has been a slight increase in cases (0.7 per cent), particularly among men, PAHO said.