U.N. calls for more AIDS funding

NEW YORK, June 4 (UPI) -- The New York-based United Nations says increased funding for the early treatment of people infected with HIV/AIDS will save countless lives.

Michael Sidibe, head of the U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, said a study showed it is possible to reduce the risk of HIV transmission by 96 percent with proper education and early treatment.

Sidibe, in a BBC report Saturday, said the challenge is to expand the access to drugs, while dealing with the social factors stigmatizing the disease.

"Thirty years ago, this mystery disease was called a gay plague -- it was a shunned disease, people were scared about each other," Sidibe said. "Now it's a completely different world -- we've been breaking the conspiracy of silence."

A U.N. report released Thursday said there has been a nearly 25 percent decline in new human immunodeficiency virus infections and a reduction in AIDS-related deaths during the past decade.

The report was published just ahead of the 30th anniversary Sunday of the first official report on AIDS by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.N. General Assembly will meet next week to discuss the epidemic. About 20 world leaders and more than 100 foreign ministers are expected to attend the session in New York.

About 34 million people were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2010 and nearly 30 million people have died as a result of contracting it.