The United Nations and disease experts said on Thursday that the global HIV epidemic could see resurgence in just five years without a drastic acceleration in efforts to prevent and treat the AIDS virus.

An analysis by UNAIDS and an expert panel commissioned by The Lancet medical journal revealed that the rate of new HIV infections is not falling at the required rate.

Lead author of the report Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said, “We must face hard truths -- if current rate of new HIV infections continues, merely sustaining major efforts we already have in place will not be enough to stop deaths from AIDS increasing within five years in many countries”.

He said this high demographic growth in some affected countries is increasing the number of people infected with the incurable virus who will need lifelong treatment.

The report showed that even by juts sustaining current HIV treatment and prevention efforts would require at least a third of total government health spending in the most affected African countries from 2014 to 2030.

Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS' executive director, said it is the right time to act, and if we don’t the human and financial consequences will be catastrophic.

Presently some 35 million people have HIV, and since it began spreading 30 years ago, AIDS has already killed 40 million people worldwide.

Last year’s global data suggested that a tipping point had been reached for the first time in the epidemic's history, with the annual number of new HIV infections lower than the number of HIV patients being added to those receiving treatment.

But some recent detailed studies have clear provided evidence of resurgent HIV epidemics among high-risk population such as gay men, in Europe, North America and Asia.