Mburu said the UNAIDS report shows that prevention has taken root in some areas.

“It has shown that in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa, a few have them have been able to reach the universal access for HIV treatment, including such countries as Botswana and Namibia. We are therefore very encouraged to see that amid the current levels of funding for HIV response that there is some hope for us to see that there is good outcome at the end of the day,” he said.

However, Mburu agrees with the report that stigma and discrimination continue to be obstacles to ending the epidemic.

“A gay man in Uganda right now cannot be able to go to a doctor to seek an HIV test and disclose that he is a man who has sex another man because of laws that criminalize such populations. And we do know that in m many parts of Asia, as well, that sexworkers who are at risk of HIV infection also face a lot of barriers in terms of being arrested and bad policing policies, which make it very difficult for these kind of marginalize populations to see proper HIV prevention interventions,” he said.

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance calls for continued funding of programs that are proven to work. It warns that a reduction could put progress that’s been made at risk.

At the end of 2010, between 31 million and 35 million people were believed living with HIV/AIDS. There were about 2.7 million new infections and 1.8 million people who died of HIV/AIDS-related illnesses.