AIDS Remains Leading Cause of Death in Africa, According to UN
November 20, 2007—Today the United Nations issued an updated estimate of the extent of HIV infection around the globe, based mainly on improved methods of determining the scope of the disease. Click here to read the UNAIDS press release.
New figures released today by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization have revised the estimated number of people living with HIV to 33.2 million. This is about 16% less than the number of people previously thought to be HIV-infected. Each day there are about 6,800 new infections and 5,700 deaths due to AIDS, according to the report, less than was previously estimated.
"It is good news that the extent of infection is somewhat less than we thought, especially in India and some parts of Africa," said Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance.
"However, we must not be complacent about the AIDS crisis," he noted. "There is still a huge unmet need for basic HIV/AIDS services, including for orphaned children. Today's report does not change the fact that only a tiny fraction of HIV-positive pregnant women are getting the treatment they need to avoid passing the virus to their newborns and to stay alive to raise them," he noted.
Some of the reduction is also due to increased access to prevention and treatment programs in affected countries. "The report shows that prevention and treatment programs are succeeding and therefore deserve more, not less, financial support," Zeitz said.
In September 2007, the UN reported a $8 billion shortfall in resources needed to fight AIDS, including funding for basic prevention, treatment, and care for orphaned children. The UN also said that while $42 billion would be needed to keep the G8 leaders' promise of universal access by 2010, only $15.4 billion was projected to be available by that year.
Today the UN said that its estimate of the resources needed by 2010 took into account the new data on the extent of the epidemic, but that the figures would need to be revised downward by about 5% to fully reflect the new information. This means that the estimate of resources needed by 2010 would drop from $42 billion to $40 billion.
"We are talking about a small reduction in the resource need for 2010," Zeitz said. "Today's report is a welcome correction, but it does not mean previous calls for funding or for faster action were 'alarmist.' The epicenter of the global AIDS crisis is still in Africa, and the lives of the people there matter. We still need to see effective programs get the funding they need to stop the dying."
"These reductions in estimates cannot lower our commitment to overcoming this preventable and treatable disease," said Rev. Dr. Hielke Wolters, Director of Justice, Diakonia and Responsibility for Creation at the World Council of Churches, in a statement released today by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance.