The executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), Winnie Byanyima, has said HIV stigma should be tackled because it kills.

“You are not a criminal or sinner because you are living with HIV; you just had it transmitted to you by a sexual partner… So stigma kills,” Byanyima, who is also an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, said on Tuesday in a video she posted on her X (formerly Twitter) page.

She argued that until some countries remove criminal laws and policies and tackle the prejudices that are driving people away from life-saving treatment, they will not end AIDS by 2030.

On June 13, 2023, UNAIDS released a report highlighting that ending AIDS is a political and financial choice and that the countries and leaders who are already following the path are achieving extraordinary results.

It said Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zimbabwe have already achieved the “95-95-95” targets.

That means 95% of the people who are living with HIV know their HIV status, 95% of the people who know that they are living with HIV are on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and 95% of people who are on treatment are virally suppressed.

A further 16 other countries, eight of them in sub-Saharan Africa, the region which accounts for 65% of all people living with HIV, are also close to doing so, the report, titled ‘The Path that Ends AIDS’ said.

Byanyima said in June that the end of AIDS is an opportunity for a uniquely powerful legacy for today’s leaders. “They could be remembered by future generations as those who put a stop to the world’s deadliest pandemic. They could save millions of lives and protect the health of everyone. They could show what leadership can do,” she said.

It said the number of people on antiretroviral treatment worldwide rose almost fourfold, from 7.7 million in 2010 to 29.8 million in 2022.

However, the report said AIDS claimed a life every minute in 2022 and that around 9.2 million people still missed out on treatment, including 660 000 children living with HIV.