MDG 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Target 6A. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

Target 6B. Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.

At the end of 2009, 33.3 million people were living with HIV. That same year, some 2.6 million people became newly infected, and 1.8 million died of AIDS, including 260 000 children. Of all people living with HIV, 68% are in sub-Saharan Africa where there are an estimated 10.6 million people needing antiretroviral therapy.

WHO is working with countries:

• to prevent people becoming infected with HIV – helping to change behaviours to reduce HIV risks; increasing access to prevention commodities; supporting programmes for prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV; promoting safe blood supplies and prevention of HIV transmission in health care settings; assessing new prevention technologies;
• to expand the availability of treatment;
• to provide the best care for people living with HIV/ AIDS and their families;
• to expand access and uptake of HIV testing and counselling so that people can learn their HIV status;
• to strengthen health care systems so that they can deliver quality and sustainable HIV/AIDS programmes and services; and
• to improve HIV/AIDS information systems, including HIV surveillance, monitoring and evaluation and operational research.

• More about Target 6A and 6B

Target 6C. Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Malaria

Malaria kills nearly one million people a year – most of them children under five in Africa. In fact, on average a child in Africa dies every 30 seconds from a malaria infection caused by the bite of a mosquito.

WHO urges three main strategies to tackle malaria:

• prevention with long-lasting insecticidal nets;
• prevention with indoor residual spraying; and
• rapid treatment with effective anti-malarial medicines.

WHO also recommends a special focus on preventing pregnant women and young children. WHO’s target, and that of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, is to cut malaria by half by 2010, with the goal of reaching the MDG target by 2015.

Tuberculosis

There were an estimated 9.4 million new cases of TB in 2009 and an estimated 1.7 million deaths (including 380 000 people with HIV), making this disease one of the world's biggest infectious killers.

The global incidence rate is falling very slowly, but all regions of the world are on track to meet the MDG targets of halving TB prevalence and deaths by 2015.

WHO – in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership – is working to combat the epidemic through Stop TB Strategy. This six-point strategy seeks to:

• pursue high-quality DOTS expansion and enhancement;
• address TB/HIV, multidrug-resistant TB and the needs of poor and vulnerable populations;
• contribute to health system strengthening based on primary health care;
• engage all care providers;
• empower people with TB, and communities through partnership; and
• enable and promote research.

Related links

• HIV infections
• Malaria
• Tuberculosis