Update on global HIV/AIDS and the cost of prevention.(Sex Research Update)(Statistical data)

A comprehensive report on global HIV/AIDS statistics is presented in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. The numbers clearly indicate the extent to which HIV/AIDS represents a global health tragedy. The United Nations estimates that at the end of 2005, between 33.4 million and 46.0 million people were living with HIV. During 2005 an estimated 4.1 million adults and children became newly infected with HIV and approximately 2.8 million people died of AIDS.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the largest burden of HIV/AIDS, it is estimated that 24.5 million people aged 15-49 years are infected with HIV. While HIV prevalence appears to have declined in several African countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, it has levelled off at what UNAIDS calls "exceptionally high levels" in others. In some African countries, most notably South Africa where 18.8% of the adult population is HIV+, the epidemic continues to expand. With respect to sub-Saharan Africa, it is important to note that half of all new HIV infections occur among people under the age of 25.

According to UNAIDS (2006), at the end of 2005 8.3 million people in Asia aged 15-49 were living with HIV (two thirds of them in India). About 1.6 million people in Latin America and 1.5 million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were living with HIV. The prevalence of HIV in the various regions of the world at the end of 2005 was 6.1% in sub-Saharan Africa, 1.6% in the Caribbean, 0.8% in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 0.5% in Latin America, 0.5% ...