Nearly three years after the first cases of COVID-19 began appearing in Wuhan, China, the global health community is pausing today to reflect on the tragic impact of another world-changing virus, HIV, which continues to exact a ghastly toll on humanity.
Since the discovery of the disease in 1981, HIV has claimed an estimated 40.1 million lives worldwide according to the United Nations’ program, UNAIDS; in 2021, there were 38.4 million people living with HIV. Between 1.1 and 2 million new infections occur each year.
