At a United Nations conference in Addis Ababba, Ethiopia, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced some exciting news: The U.N. has reached its goal of reducing HIV and AIDS-related infections nine months before expected.

Under the Millennium Development Goals agenda created by the U.N. in 2000, the organization set out plans to reduce HIV infections worldwide. Since the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, reported HIV infections have fallen 35 percent, and AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by 41 percent due in large part to easier access to treatments and educational efforts by community leaders.

Now, the U.N. has set its sights on a new goal: completely eradicating the AIDS epidemic by 2030. Can the U.N. accomplish this in 15 years? Let's take a look back at how they've come this far.

Just 15 years ago, 700,000 people worldwide were receiving treatment for the virus. As of March of this year, 15 million people out of the 36.9 million infected worldwide are receiving anti-retroviral therapy at a cost of less than $100 a year. Comparatively, a year of anti-retroviral therapy cost $14,000 in 2000. Because the price of the HIV-suppressing drugs was so expensive, most infected with the virus could not afford a whole year's supply, leaving little hope for those unable to afford more than a couple of doses of treatment.

UNAIDS, the branch of the U.N. dedicated to AIDS outreach efforts, has since negotiated with manufacturers to reduce the price of HIV-suppressant drugs after the organization learned the pills are relatively inexpensive to make. A generic of the drug is now being produced in India, and prices of the drug quickly dropped.

UNAIDS will focus its outreach efforts in the most high-risk areas where the HIV virus is still being spread at high rate. In sub-Saharan Africa, the area most affected by HIV worldwide, 25.8 million people are living with HIV. Mothers in Africa are being taught the correct way to breastfeed their babies in order to reduce the chances of mother-to-baby HIV transmission. Such programs have proven to be successful in Cuba where mother-to-baby transmission of HIV has been completely eliminated.

The population that has been the least responsive to outreach programs has been adolescents. AIDS is the No. 1 killer of young people ages 10-19 in Africa, affecting 2.1 million adolescents, and program directors have found they are reluctant to get tested and often drop out of programs before completion.

Socioeconomic factors play a large role in the spread of the virus among young women who are often exploited sexually by male peers in order to gain resources needed for everyday life. Most adolescents infected with HIV were infected at birth by an HIV-positive mother. New programs aim to get younger people involved and intend to distribute contraception to those in need as prevention.

In order for the U.N. to reach its goal of eliminating the virus by 2030, more funding will be needed so people infected with the virus will be able to obtain medication as early as possible. Studies have found that the earlier an HIV-infected patient receives medication, the easier it becomes for the medication to suppress the virus. UNAIDS has called for $32 billion in spending between now and 2020 in an effort to make access to drugs more readily available and increase outreach efforts.

A viral-suppressing vaccine is also on the horizon for the HIV-positive. The injection will only need to be administered every four to six months, greatly reducing the cost of treatment and increasing availability for those with little financial resources.

UNAIDS is aiming to deliver treatment to those already diagnosed with HIV while also increasing testing. The goal is to ensure that 90 percent of people living with HIV will know their status and receive anti-retroviral therapy. Although eradication of the virus by 2030 is ambitious, the U.N. believes increased funding for programs and the new low cost of drugs are the answer to ending the worldwide AIDS epidemic.