HIV infection named by WHO one of the main threats to human health in 2019

The World Health Organization announced this week the top ten key threats to human health for the coming year. The main problems are dirty air, noncommunicable diseases and drug resistant tuberculosis. HIV infection closes the list.

In the text of the press release posted on the WHO website, TASS writes, in descending order of importance for world health, several fundamental problems are presented, the solution of which should become a topical agenda for the entire world community.

The main threat to public health that has the greatest negative effect on human life, according to WHO experts, was air pollution. Also included in the list are non-communicable diseases (diabetes, cancer, CVD), increased antibiotic resistance, Ebola, pandemic flu, etc.

It is important to note that WHO specialists paid special attention to the active spread of drug-resistant strains of viruses. According to experts, the enhancement of antimicrobial resistance threatens to throw humanity far back, at a time when it did not have effective means for the treatment of pneumonia, tuberculosis and other diseases.

For example, one of the most important problems today is the growing number of cases of resistance to anti-tuberculosis therapy. In 2017, in 600 thousand patients, tuberculosis was resistant to the antibiotic rifampicin, which is the most commonly used antibiotic in this disease, and in 82% of cases it was about multidrug resistance of bacteria.

Closes the ten threats to human health in the coming year, HIV infection. Despite the tremendous success in the treatment and prevention of the virus, according to WHO, it annually causes the death of almost a million people. Over the 30 years since the discovery of the virus, the epidemic has swept over 70 million people around the world. Currently, there are 37 million PLHIV in the world.