HIV/AIDS infections on rise in all regions -U.N. report
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wednesday November 22, 3:08 AM Reuters
*HIV/AIDS infections on rise in all regions -U.N. report*
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) - HIV/AIDS infection is rising in every region of the
world and most worryingly in countries like Uganda and Thailand, which
had been heralded as success stories in the fight against AIDS, the
United Nations said on Tuesday.
Nearly 40 million adults and children are infected worldwide. The most
striking increases in new cases are in east Asia and in eastern
Europe/central Asia, mainly due to drug use and unsafe sex, UNAIDS and
the World Health Organisation said.
Somebody is infected with the HIV virus every 8 seconds, equivalent to
11,000 infections worldwide every day, while another 8,000 infected
people die, the two agencies said in a joint annual report "2006 AIDS
Epidemic Update".
"Evidence shows again that the global epidemic is growing in all areas,"
Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, told a news conference.
"Perhaps of even greater concern to me is the fact that in some
countries that had known real results in the fight against AIDS --
Uganda and some western countries -- we see an increase in infection rates."
Some 4.3 million people across the globe became infected with HIV this
year, with a heavy concentration among young people, bringing the total
number to an estimated 39.5 million.
Sub-Saharan Africa, which recorded 2.8 million new infections, still
bears the brunt of the AIDS scourge, with 24.7 million people living
with HIV, according to the report.
Of the 2.9 million global deaths from AIDS last year -- which Piot said
was the highest number recorded -- 2.1 million occurred in Africa, the
core area of the 25-year-old epidemic.
China's drug-fuelled HIV epidemic, which accounts for about half the
country's estimated 650,000 infections, has reached "alarming
proportions", according to the report.
"With HIV spreading gradually from most-at-risk populations to the
general population, the number of HIV infections in women is growing
too," it said of China.
PAST SUCCESS STORIES
Uganda is among countries suffering a resurgence of infection rates
which were previously stable or declining.
New data showed erratic condom use in Uganda and more men having sex
with more than one partner, as well as evidence of rising HIV prevalence
in some rural areas, according to Karen Stanecki, UNAIDS senior
epidemiologist.
"In Thailand, another one of our past success stories, the number of new
infections continues to drop but the epidemic is changing and countries
such as Thailand and Uganda need to take into account the fact that
epidemics do change over time," Stanecki said.
In Thailand, a large percentage of new HIV infections occur in people
considered "low risk", she added, noting one third of new infections are
among married women.
"In Thailand it's a shift, it is not the same people who are infected
today as who were infected 10 years ago. The sex industry, we can say,
is safe but the government neglected grossly the problem among injecting
drug-users," Piot said.
Aid agencies called for a funding boost to provide access to
anti-retroviral drug treatment, which only 1.65 million or 24 percent of
the 6.8 million people in need are receiving.
"As the yearly ritual of the UNAIDS figures comes round again, leaders
of the rich world should be reaching for their collective chequebooks,"
said the London-based group ActionAid.
Paul Zeitz, head of the Washington-based Global AIDS Alliance, said that
with the epidemic outpacing control efforts, governments had to keep
promises to provide essential services.
The report cited evidence of diminishing or stable HIV spread in most
east African and west African countries, while epidemics still grow in
Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland.
In South Africa, where an estimated 5.5 million people have HIV, the
epidemic continues unabated, suggesting the disease's prevalence has not
yet reached a plateau, the report said.
In Asia, an estimated 8.6 million people are living with HIV, an
increase of nearly one million, and 630,000 people died from
AIDS-related illnesses in the vast region this year.
India, where the epidemic appears to be stable or diminishing in some
parts while growing modestly in others, has 5.7 million infected people,
mainly through heterosexual sex.
All Figures are approximate and do not reflect the true number of
infections or deaths as many infections and deaths go uncounted.