Global AIDS Basics
In July 2008, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) released its latest report on the global AIDS epidemic, which outlines progress and setbacks in the fight agaisnt global HIV/AIDS.
Highlights of the report include the following:
• 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide, including 2.7 million who were newly infected with HIV in 2007, or roughly 7,400 every day. More than 96% of new infections are in low- and middle-income countries.
• 2 million people died of AIDS during 2007—nearly 5,500 every day.
• 22 million people with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Saharan Africa, two-thirds of the global total.
• AIDS is spreading rapidly in some countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, most notably Indonesia, Pakistan, Vietnam, Russia, and the Ukraine. New HIV infections are also increasing steadily, albeit more slowly than in the past, in populous countries such as Bangladesh and China.
• There are 2 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV, and 370,000 children were newly infected with HIV during 2007, most of them through mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
• Globally, and in every region, more women than ever before are living with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa, women account for 60% of all people with HIV/AIDS.
• Young people (ages 15-24) account for an estimated 45% of new HIV infections worldwide. However, 60% of young males and 62% of young females lack accurate knowledge about HIV prevention.
• At least 25 million people have died of AIDS since the disease was first recognized in 1981.
• Roughly $10 billion was available for AIDS funding in 2007—just 55% of the $18.1 billion that was needed to provide comprehensive prevention, treatment, and care worldwide.
• Nearly 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS, a figure that is projected to rise to 14 million by 2015.