(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Despite advances in medical treatment in past decades, millions of people around the world are still living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Peggy Giakoumelos reports.
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The United Nations program UNAIDS says 35 million people worldwide are living with HIV.
While this figure may seem high, global AIDS-related deaths and new HIV infections have fallen by more than a third in a decade.
In a review of the pandemic released for the 20th International AIDS Conference in Australia, UNAIDS says AIDS-related deaths dropped to 1.5 million in 2013 from 1.7 million the previous year.
Michel Sidibe the Executive Director of UNAIDS, says despite the fall, some countries are carrying a larger burden than others.
"We can't talk about just one epidemic any more; we are seeing different epidemics, even between one country. There are often many different and complex epidemics, which means that we must focus on location and population. Today 15 countries make up 75 per cent of the global burden of HIV."
Worldwide, South Africa remains the hardest-hit country, followed by Nigeria.
In Asia, concern focuses on India and Indonesia.
The number of Indonesian infections have jumped by 48 per cent since 2005.
And while Australia's rate remains low by global standards, research indicates HIV cases in Australia are at their highest level in 20 years.
David Wilson is from the Kirby Institute for infection and immunity at the University of New South Wales which has recently released data about HIV infection in Australia.
"We're finding that in the last couple of years, the levels of HIV are about the same. But these levels are about 70 per cent higher than what they were 15 years ago. We have about 1,200 people who become newly infected wit HIV every year. Most countries around the world are seeing a decline in the HIV infections. What were seeing unfortunately is that we're not seeing a decline here. We're seeing stable levels and, over a long-term trend, we're seeing an increase in HIV in this country. So unfortunately it's becoming quite a stubborn target. It's very difficult to achieve."
Some researchers say an increase in unprotected sex between men who have casual partners is contributing to the number of new cases.
Another area of concern in Australia is what's being described as a potential HIV epidemic in Indigenous communities.
The risk factors include high rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), increasing rates of injecting drug use and Indigenous gay men engaging in risky behaviour.
David Wilson says the situation could get much worse.
"The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have slightly higher rates but what we're fearful of is because the way they get infected is different, then we could get an epidemic starting to take off, like we saw in Canada a few years ago. But levels here are relatively similar just a little bit higher."
The federal government's seventh National HIV Strategy will see more than seven million dollars dedicated to reducing high rates of STIs in Indigenous populations, as the presence of other STIs increases the chance of contracting HIV if exposed.
But there's some good news when it comes to fight against HIV and AIDS.
Two HIV positive men have been cleared of the virus and remain virus-free more than three years after being given bone marrow transplants in Sydney for other conditions.
Lead scientist Professor David Cooper from the University of NSW's Kirby Institute explains.
"These patients are very important to understand what transplantation does to drive the virus to such low levels. Maybe we could reproduce it by some immunotherapy that's not as dangerous as bone marrow transplantation."
In other positive developments, UNAIDS says efforts to increase the number of people getting access to life-saving anti-retroviral drugs have advanced quickly with 12.9 million people now receiving treatment, compared with 5.2 million in 2009.
UNAIDS says that while this target is impressive, it falls short of a UN target announced two years ago to reach 15 million people by 2015.
