New global estimates released Tuesday based on improved data show about
40 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, including an
estimated 2.5 million children under 15 years old. About five million
people were infected in 2003 and more than three million died.
"The AIDS epidemic continues to expand -- we haven't reached the limit
yet," said Dr Peter Piot, head of the Joint United Nations (news
- web
sites) Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS (news
- web
sites)).
"More people have become infected this year than ever before and more
people have died from AIDS than ever before," he told Reuters. "It is the
first cause of death in Africa and the fourth cause of death worldwide."
BURDEN OF EPIDEMIC
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the worst affected region with about 3.2
million new infections and 2.3 million deaths in 2003. Southern Africa is
home to about 30 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS, yet the region
has less than two percent of the global population.
In Botswana and Swaziland the infection rate of HIV/AIDS among adults
is 40 percent. One in five pregnant women in some African countries is
infected with the virus, which is more easily transmitted from men to
women than the other way around.
"In two short decades HIV/AIDS has tragically become the premier
disease of mass destruction," Dr Jack Chow, of the World Health
Organization (news
- web
sites) (WHO) told a news conference.
"The death odometer from HIV/AIDS is now at 8,000 a day and
accelerating."
Piot said the epidemic, fueled by intravenous drug use and unsafe sex,
is spreading in India, China, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, the
Russian Federation, Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia. And he predicted that it
could be years before the back of the epidemic is broken in terms of new
infections.
"The burden of the HIV epidemic will become bigger and bigger over time
because it takes on average seven to 10 years after infection before you
fall ill and, if there is no treatment, before you die," he said.
"In other words, even if by some miracle all transmission of HIV
stopped, people would still become ill. We are only at the beginning of
the impact of AIDS, certainly in Africa."
REASONS FOR HOPE
But Piot added that the "AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2003" report
also provides hope. There are fewer people being infected in several East
African cities and there is also more money than ever being spent on AIDS.
"Thirdly, there is also a momentum on treatment, even if today only
75,000 Africans -- less than one out of 50 who need it -- are treated with
effective therapy. There is now movement to roll out this treatment on a
very large scale," he added.
In a major boost to combat the epidemic, South Africa has announced a
plan to provide free antiretroviral drugs to hundreds of thousands of
infected people.
Other African countries are also committing resources.
"You can't be dealing with education. You can't be dealing with poverty
and you can't be dealing with security today without taking the HIV/AIDS
epidemic into consideration," said Dr. Debrework Zewdie, the director of
the World Bank (news
- web
sites) Global HIV/AIDS program.
Piot described the developments as a new phase in the fight against
AIDS and a time of great opportunities.
"We need to be as passionate about making sure our children do not
become infected with HIV as about treating people who are already infected
today," he said.
