World AIDS Day

Dec 1, 2013 12:00 PM ET

LillyPad

The guest blog comes from Lilly's Vice President of Global Health Programs and Access, Dr. Evan Lee.

Today, we mark World AIDS Day to commemorate the lives lost and raise awareness of the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS. There is great cause for optimism this year. Growing access to antiretroviral drugs is keeping people alive longer and stopping the spread of new HIV infections. A new report by UNAIDS shows a 33 percent reduction in new HIV infections since 2001.

The World Health Organization estimates that expanding preventive HIV treatment to include children and uninfected partners of people living with AIDS could save as many as three million more lives and prevent 3.5 million more HIV infections by 2025. And encouraging new research has reinvigorated hope for an AIDS vaccine.

Read more about what challenges remain against AIDS.