Story 2: Number of people living with HIV continues to grow: UNAIDS
Leroy N. Soetoro
GENEVA, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of people living with HIV worldwide
continued to grow in 2008, reaching an estimated 33.4 million, the Joint
United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said on Tuesday.
The total number of people living with the virus in 2008 was more than
20 percent higher than the number in 2000, and the prevalence was roughly
threefold higher than in 1990, the agency said in its 2009 AIDS Epidemic
Update report.
The continuing rise in the population of people living with HIV
reflects the combined effects of continued high rates of new HIV
infections and the beneficial impact of antiretroviral therapy which makes
people live longer, according to the report, which was jointly launched by
UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO).
In 2008, an estimated 2.7 million new HIV infections occurred
worldwide, and about 2 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses, the
report said.
According to the latest epidemiological data, globally the spread of
HIV appears to have peaked in 1996, when 3.5 million new HIV infections
occurred. In 2008, the estimated number of new HIV infections was
approximately 30 percent lower than at the epidemic's peak 12 years
earlier.
In 2008 there were some 22.4 million people living with HIV in sub-
Saharan Africa, the region most affected by the disease. New infections in
the region was about 1.9 million, approximately 15 percent lower than the
figure in 2001, when the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS was
signed, UNAIDS said.
In East Asia, HIV incidence has declined by nearly 25 percent and in
South and South East Asia by 10 percent in the period 2001-2008. In
Eastern Europe, after a dramatic increase in new infections among
injecting drug users, the epidemic has leveled off considerably.
"The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are
seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention," said UNAIDS
Executive Director Michel Sidibe.
According to the report, the number of AIDS-related deaths has
declined by more than 10 percent over the past five years as more people
gained access to the life saving treatment. UNAIDS and WHO estimate that
since the availability of effective treatment in 1996, some 2.9 million
lives have been saved.
"International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up has
yielded concrete and measurable results. We cannot let this momentum
wane," said WHO Director-general Margaret Chan.
"Now is the time to redouble our efforts, and save many more lives,"
she added.
So Obama's dog in the UN is lying? Who would have guessed that?
--
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact to
Rangel's tax evasion.
Lars Eighner
and talented Leroy N. Soetoro broadcast on alt.politics.liberalism:
> So Obama's dog in the UN is lying?
No. You are lying as anyone who actually read the first story knows.
--
Lars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> September 5931, 1993
310 days since Rick Warren prayed over Bush's third term.
Obama: No hope, no change, more of the same. Yes, he can, but no, he won't.