Investing $3 per patient a day can put an end to AIDS epidemic by 2030: UNAIDS

United Nations has said that a five-year, fast-track battle against HIV could end the global threat of the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS' executive director said that if just 3 dollars a day is invested for each person living with HIV for the next five years, then it will be possible to put an end to this epidemic for good, as each dollar invested will produce15 dollars in return, Stuff.co.nz reported.

In its annual update on the AIDS pandemic, which began more than 30 years ago and killed up to 40 million people worldwide, UNAIDS estimated that by June 2014 some 13.6 million people globally had access to antiretroviral medicines - a dramatic improvement on the 5 million who were getting treatment in 2010.

UNAIDS' fast-track target known as 90-90-90 - is aimed at having 90 per cent of people with HIV knowing they are HIV-positive, 90 per cent of diagnosed people on treatment, and 90 per cent of those on treatment able to use the medication to suppress the amount of virus in their bodies to a low level.

Other targets include reducing the annual number of new HIV infections by more than 75 per cent - to 500,000 in 2020 - and focusing major efforts in the 30 countries that together account for 89 percent of new HIV infections worldwide.

UNAIDS data show that in 2013, 35 million people globally were living with HIV, 2.1 million people were newly infected with the virus and some 1.5 million people died of AIDS. The vast majority of the HIV/AIDS burden is in sub-Saharan Africa.