News

The 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that global HIV prevalence - the percentage of people living with HIV - has levelled off and that the number of new infections has fallen, in part as a result of the impact of HIV programmes.

However, in 2007, 33.2 million people were estimated to be living with HIV, 2.5 million people became newly infected, two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa, and 2.1 million people died of AIDS.

The significant reduction from almost 40 million people infected at the end of 2006 is only, to a small extent, due to the impact of HIV programmes. The new report reflects improved and expanded epidemiological data and analyses that present a better understanding of the global epidemic. These new data and advances in methodology have resulted in substantial revisions from previous estimates.

While the global prevalence of HIV infection - the percentage of people infected with HIV—has levelled off, the total number of people living with HIV is increasing because of ongoing acquisition of HIV infection, combined with longer survival times, in a continuously growing general population.

(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 20 November. The report can be accessed at www.unaids.org)