We’ve come a long way since the 1980s – but the HIV/Aids crisis is still very much alive

One HIV-related death this year should be unforgivable, let alone the yearly toll of 1 million, which is why The Independent, the Evening Standard and the Elton John Aids Foundation are bringing attention to the issue this Christmas

Today The Independent and the Evening Standard launch a Christmas appeal in conjunction with the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The primary aim of our campaign is to increase dramatically the uptake of HIV testing among vulnerable groups in the UK, US and around the world, and to improve the accessibility of treatment for those who need it.

London has been a success story when it comes to increasing rates of people taking HIV tests, becoming one of only three cities globally to meet the “90-90-90” targets set out in the Paris Declaration on Fast-Track Cities: Ending the Aids Epidemic.

The declaration aims to ensure that 90 per cent of people living with HIV know their status; that 90 per cent of those diagnosed are receiving treatment; and that 90 per cent of people being treated have successfully seen their viral loads suppressed.

It is vital that London continues to set an example – and vital too that other cities are given the assistance they need to follow in the city's footsteps. Our appeal will focus on how this can be done.

The world has come a long way since the Aids crisis of the 1980s. In those early years, infection with HIV appeared to be a death sentence. Indeed millions of those who went on to develop Aids have died as a result of the disease.

Today, however, thanks to remarkable medical advances, HIV can be suppressed to the extent that patients do not get sick and don’t go on to infect others. The truth is, the way the world has developed the means to combat HIV is one of the great medical achievements of our time.

Nevertheless, HIV/Aids has not been stopped. Around the world, there are 37 million people living with HIV and each year there are around 1.8 million new infections. It is estimated that at least one in 10 people living with HIV do not know their status because they simply haven’t been tested.

Moreover, not all those who do know they are living with the virus can access the treatment they need to stay healthy. Paradoxically, treatment is more likely to be out of reach for those groups who are particularly vulnerable – young women, the homeless, migrants and the LGBT+ community – because of social exclusion or shame.

While deaths from Aids-related illnesses have fallen since the peak years of the early 2000s, even so last year nearly a million people lost their lives as a result of developing Aids.

It remains as vital as ever that we take preventative steps so that Aids can finally be eradicated from the world.

Sir Elton John established his foundation in 1992. As he says, in those days the stigma of HIV was so extreme that people living with the virus were afraid to go outside. The foundation was in the business of delivering meals so that individuals who had shut themselves away would not starve.

The stigma may have lessened (in some parts of the world anyway), but the foundation’s efforts are no less important than they were 26 years ago.

Indeed, our report from Atlanta highlights the point well. Astonishingly, if you are a black gay man in that wealthy American city, you have a 50 per cent chance of being diagnosed as HIV positive in your lifetime. And many of those people still don’t get the right treatment.

Sir Elton makes the point that it is the poor who are most likely to be infected: is that why HIV and Aids have drifted out of the public’s consciousness? Whatever the answer to that question, he is right to conclude that “today, any person dying because of Aids anywhere is unforgivable”.

Over the coming weeks we will feature many inspiring stories, as well as some that will make difficult reading. We hope they will remind the world that there is still more to do to tackle Aids.

We will also be asking you, our readers, to consider donating to this important cause. We know our appeal can make a difference.

Money raised from public donations through the AIDSfree appeal will be used to support the Elton John AIDS Foundation projects in six key cities around the world (London, Nairobi, Atlanta, Kiev, Delhi and Maputo). Through UK Aid Match, the UK government will double public donations up to £2 million to be spent across projects in Maputo and Nairobi.