A research said HIV infections have increased in 74 countries between 2005-2015.
While the deaths from HIV infections have been on a decline, the number of people infected has increased in the last 10 years, a recent global study on the auto-immune disease have revealed.
A research by Global Burden of Disease said that HIV infections have increased in 74 countries between 2005 and 2015.
The research published in the Lancet HIV journal revealed that although deaths from HIV/AIDS - which peaked in 2005 - have been steadily declining since, 2.5 million people worldwide became infected with HIV in 2015, a number that hasn't changed substantially in the past decade.
New infections of HIV fell by an average of only 0.7% per year between 2005 and 2015, compared to the 2.7% drop per year between 1997 and 2005. This means the target to end AIDS by 2030 could perhaps be over ambitious.
Professor Peter Piot, Director at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said, "The continuing high rate of over 2 million new HIV infections represents a collective failure which must be addressed through prevention efforts and continued investment in HIV vaccine research."
The new research, released at the International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, also found that though the global number of new cases every year has reduced, the rate of decline has slowed.
The countries that saw an increase in infections between 2005 and 2015 are Egypt, Pakistan, Kenya, Philippines, Cambodia, Mexico, and Russia.
Dr Haidong Wang, the assistant professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and also the lead author of the study, emphasized the need to slow down the risks of new HIV infections.
Speaking of Pakistan that showed new infections, he added that less than 6 per cent people in the country receive antiretroviral drugs. Dr Wang warned that at this rate, achieving the 90-90-90 goals - aim for 90 per cent of people living with HIV knowing their HIV status, 90 per cent of people diagnosed with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy, and 90 per cent of people receiving antiretroviral therapy experiencing viral suppression - by 2020 was a distant reality.