rates of hiv infection are on the rise in 50 countries with more than 18 million people becoming infected in 2017 a far cry from goals established for the near future according to a new united nations report the report entitled miles to go published earlier this week by the joint united nations program on hivaids says the pace of progress in saving lives and preventing new infections is not matching the global ambition of cutting the infection rate to 500000 a year by 2020 while the death rate from aidsrelated illnesses 940000 in 2017 is the lowest this century it is still nearly double the goal of reducing aidsrelated deaths to 500000 or fewer by 2020 according to the report new hiv infections are not falling fast enough michel sidib unaids executive director wrote in the report hiv prevention services are not being provided on an adequate scale and with sufficient intensity and are not reaching the people who need them the most a man undergoes a rapid hiv test during the gay pride parade in santiago june 23 2018 claudio reyesafpgetty images file vulnerable populations account for a large proportion of the new hiv cases and the deaths from the infection according to the report which says 180000 children became infected in 2017 and 110000 children died from aidsrelated illnesses the goal of the agency was to eliminate new infections in children by 2018 other vulnerable populations also seem to carry an elevated portion of the burden including sex workers gay men and other men who have sex with men prisoners migrants refugees often spurred by stigma and discrimination according to the report the very people who are meant to be protecting supporting and healing people living with hiv often discriminate against the people who should be in their care denying access to critical hiv services resulting in more hiv infections and more deaths sidib wrote it is the responsibility of the state to protect everyone human rights are universal dr elizabeth lowenthal research director for the childrens hospital of philadelphia global health program and pediatric clinical core director at the university of pennsylvanias center for aids research told abc news it is important to look first at places where the goals have been met lowenthal has provided care to children and families affected by hiv infection in botswana where there has been very strong political commitment administrative support and partnerships with experts who can provide their clinical expertise and help identify key populations botswana is one of the six countries that have achieved what is known as the 909090 targets 90 percent of people with hiv know they have hiv 90 percent of those diagnosed are receiving treatment and of those receiving treatment 90 percent have accomplished suppression of their viral load or the level of hiv virus that is detectable in their blood the unaids report speaks of yet another important driver of the epidemic violence against women and girls