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FACTBOX:
Africa
still worst hit by AIDS
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 November
25, 2009 - An estimated 33.4 million people worldwide
are infected with the AIDS virus, according to a statement issued
by the World Health Organisation and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS).
Here are some facts about AIDS, according to UNAIDS:#
THE GLOBAL PICTURE:
* Global deaths from AIDS reached an estimated 2 million in 2008,
the same number as in 2007. Since the AIDS pandemic started in the
early 1980s, almost 60 million people have been infected with the
virus and 25 million have died of HIV-related causes.
* In 2008, around 430 000 children were born with HIV, bringing to
2.1 million the total number of children under 15 living with HIV.
Young people account for around 40 percent of all new adult (15+)
HIV infections worldwide.
* The annual number of new HIV infections remained the same in 2008
as for 2007 at 2.7 million. This is down from 3.0 million in 2001.
* Although 33.4 million people suffered human immunodeficiency virus
infections in 2008, more of them are living with HIV than ever before
because people are living longer at least in part due to the beneficial
effects of antiretroviral therapy.
AFRICA & ASIA:
* Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV,
accounting for 67 percent of all people living with HIV worldwide
and 91 percent of all new infections among children.
* Sub-Saharan Africa also accounts for 72 percent of AIDS-related
deaths.
* An estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in
sub-Saharan Africa in 2008, bringing to 22.4 million the number of
Africans living with HIV.
* The nine countries in southern Africa continue to bear a disproportionate
share of the global AIDS burden, with each of them having an adult
HIV prevalence greater than 10 percent.
* With an adult HIV prevalence of 26 percent in 2007, Swaziland has
the most severe level of infection in the world. Lesotho's epidemic
seems to have stabilized, with a prevalence of 23.2 percent in 2008.
* South Africa continues to be home to the world's largest population
of people living with HIV - 5.7 million in 2007.
* In Asia, an estimated 4.7 million people were living with HIV in
2008. The number of new HIV infections decreased from 400,000 in 2001
to 350 000 in 2008.
* In 2008, an estimated 330,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
* Asia, home to 60 percent of the world's population, is second only
to sub-Saharan Africa in terms of people living with HIV.
* India accounts for roughly half of Asia's HIV prevalence. With the
exception of Thailand, every country in Asia has an adult HIV prevalence
of less than 1 percent.
* HIV prevalence in eastern Europe and Central Asia is on the rise,
with severe and growing epidemics in the Ukraine and Russia. With
an adult HIV prevalence of 1.6 percent in 2007, Ukraine has the highest
prevalence in all of Europe.
* In Latin America, new HIV infections totalled an estimated 170,000
in 2008 bringing to 2 million the number of people living with HIV
in Latin America. An estimated 77,000 people died of AIDS-related
illnesses last year.
* In 2008, North America had 55,000 new HIV infections and Western
and Central Europe had 30,000 new infections.
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