The Heat discusses the search for a cure to HIV/AIDS

The Heat

Red RibbonA red ribbon, the symbol of HIV/AIDS awareness, is put on a gate of the city council chamber during an NGO’s campaign on the World AIDS Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 1, 2014. (AFP PHOTO: YASUYOSHI CHIBA)

The world’s deadliest infectious killer is HIV/AIDS. Although progress is being made to stop it, there’s still no cure in sight. As the international community marks yet another World AIDS Day, a global battle continues to bring this deadly disease under control.

According to UNAIDS, more than 39 million people have died from the epidemic since it was first reported in 1981, and 1.5 million people died from AIDS-related causes just last year. Today, there are an estimated 35 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the worst-hit regions, with 24.7 million people living with HIV in 2013 alone. The area accounts for about 70 percent of all new HIV cases worldwide.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic also has a large impact on the women in Sub-Saharan Africa where new devices are being used to combat the disease there. CCTV America’s Rene del Carme reported this story from Durban, South Africa.

AIDS-related deaths have declined 35 percent since the epidemic’s peak in 2005, yet experts have said a vaccine could still be years away.

The Heat interviewed Craig McClure , chief of HIV and AIDS Division at UNICEF and a former senior adviser at the World Health Organization about the search for a cure.

The Heat also interviewed a panel of experts about what can be done to combat HIV/AIDS:

  • Mary Crewe, co-director at the Centre for the Study of AIDS
  • Ted Alemayhu, founder and chairman of U.S. Doctors for Africa