World's HIV cases rise to 40-million
By wire services
Published November 22, 2005
Aggressive treatment and prevention programs have reduced HIV infection rates in Kenya, Zimbabwe and the Caribbean, but the numbers continue to grow in the rest of the world, with more than 40-million people now living with the virus, according to a new U.N. report.
That's an increase of some 900,000 cases over the estimate for the previous year.
Globally, 4.9-million people became infected last year with the virus that causes AIDS and 3.1-million died of AIDS-related illnesses. AIDS has killed more than 25-million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemics in history.
"It's increasing everywhere," Dr. Jim Yong Kim, director of HIV/AIDS for the World Health Organization, said Monday. "The report illustrates very clearly that we really are failing in attempting to prevent the epidemic in the rest of the world."
The epidemic is gaining steam in Eastern Europe and Asia, where injection drug use and unsafe sex are common. As recently as five years ago, Asia accounted for one in 10 new infections, according to the report. Today, it is responsible for at least one in five. More than 1.1-million people in Asia became infected in 2004 and 520,000 died of AIDS, up from 420,000 the previous year.
"The reality is that the AIDS epidemic continues to outstrip global and national efforts to contain it," said Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS.
Ignorance accounts for much of the spread, officials said. In India, more than 40 percent of prostitutes claimed they can tell whether a customer has HIV from his appearance. In Karachi, Pakistan, 20 percent of prostitutes did not know what a condom was and one-third had never heard of AIDS. In the Philippines, 90 percent of people surveyed believed that HIV could be contracted by sharing a meal with an infected person.
Despite that gloomy news, WHO officials could point to some gains in the regions that have been hardest hit. Declines in the infection rate had previously been noted in Senegal, Uganda and Thailand, but those were considered anomalies.
"Now we have Kenya, several of the Caribbean countries and Zimbabwe with a decline," Piot said.
In those countries, he added, "People are starting later with their first sexual intercourse. They are having fewer partners. There's more condom use. It's a consistency now that's a really good sign."