AIDS.

In 2011 the world commemorated 30 years of AIDS and
the AIDS response.
In June 1981, scientists in the United States reported
the first clinical evidence of a disease that would later
become known as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
or AIDS. Its cause, the human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV), was identified in 1983. Thirty years later the AIDS
epidemic has spread to every corner of the world and
more than 60 million people have been infected with
HIV.
HIV is found in the bodily fluids of a person who has
been infected - blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast
milk. It can be transmitted through unprotected sexual
contact. It is also spread among people who inject
drugs with non-sterile injecting needles, as well as
through unscreened blood products. It can spread from
mother to child during pregnancy, childbirth or breast
feeding when the mother is HIV positive.
Over the ensuing decades, the rate of infection soared
dramatically, as did the rate of fatalities. But
eventually, new antiretroviral treatment began to extend
the lives of those who were infected. More than 5
million people had access to antiretroviral treatment in
2009, which has reduced AIDS-related deaths by more
than 20% in the past 5 years.
Also in the past ten years at least 56 countries have
either stabilized or reduced new HIV infections by more
than 25%. New HIV infections have been reduced by
nearly 20% and new HIV infections among babies have
dropped by 25%—a significant step towards achieving
virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of
HIV by 2015.
The UN family has been in the vanguard of this
progress. Since 1996, its efforts have been coordinated
by UNAIDS — the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS. The Programme is co-sponsored by 10 UN
system agencies: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP , UNFPA,
UNODC , the ILO, UNESCO , WHO and the World Bank .
In 2000, world leaders set specific goals to stop and
reverse the spread of HIV at the General Assembly’s
Millennium Summit. A 2001 special session of the
General Assembly expanded on that. Heads of State and
Representatives of Governments issued the Declaration
of Commitment on HIV/AIDS which set out a series of
national targets and global actions to reverse the
epidemic. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria was created in 2002. And in 2006, the
Assembly held a high-level review of progress made
since its special session, adopting a 53-point Political
Declaration on the way towards universal access to HIV
prevention, treatment, care and support services.