AIDS-RELATED DEATHS The latest data from countries show that reductions in deaths due to AIDS-related illness—largely driven by the steady scale-up of antiretroviral therapy—continue , but not quickly enough to reach the General Assembly’s 2020 milestone. The annual number of global deaths from AIDS-related illness among people living with HIV (all ages) has declined from a peak of 1.9 million [1.4–2.7 million] in 2004 to 940 000 [670 000–1 300 000] in 2017. Since 2010, AIDS-related mortality has declined by 34%. Reaching the 2020 milestone will require further declines of nearly 150 000 deaths per year. The global decline in deaths from AIDS-related illness has largely been driven by progress in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly eastern and southern Africa, which is home to 53% of the world’s people living with HIV. AIDS-related mortality declined by 42% from 2010 to 2017 in eastern and southern Africa, reflecting the rapid pace of treatment scale-up in the region. In western and central Africa, declines were more modest (24% reduction). Over the same period, steady declines in deaths also continued in Asia and the Pacific (39% reduction), western and central Europe and North America (36% reduction) and the Caribbean (23% reduction). In Latin America, where antiretroviral therapy coverage has been relatively high and AIDS-related mortality relatively low for many years, the decline in deaths over the past seven years was 12%. There has been no reduction in AIDS-related mortality in eastern Europe and central Asia since 2010, and deaths from AIDS-related illness increased by 11% in the Middle East and North Africa. Mortality reductions remain higher among women than men. This gender gap is particularly notable in sub-Saharan Africa, where 56% of people living with HIV are women. Despite the higher disease burden among women, more men living with HIV are dying (2, 3). In 2017, an estimated 300 000 [220 000–410 000] men in sub-Saharan Africa died of AIDS-related illness compared to 270 000 [190 000–390 000] women. This reflects higher treatment coverage among women: in 2017, an estimated 75% of men living with HIV (aged 15 years and over) in eastern and southern Africa knew their HIV status, compared to 83% of women living with HIV of the same age.