Clues to a possible cure for AIDS

Decades into the epidemic, the numbers for AIDS are still awful. In a report published on July 22nd, UNAIDS, the United Nations agency tasked with dealing with the disease, says that 40m people around the world are now infected. There were 1.3m new HIV infections in 2023, and 630,000 HIV-related deaths. But those two numbers are down from 2.1m (a 39% fall) and 1.3m (a 52% fall) respectively in 2010. That year is the baseline for calculating the drop of 90% in annual new infections and HIV-related deaths which experts reckon would end AIDS as a public-health threat. The aspiration is to reach this target by 2030. On current trends that seems unlikely. But the numbers are, mostly, heading in the right direction.