6,800 People a Day Infected with AIDS

According to the UNAIDs organization AIDS is still amongst one of the world's biggest killers and the leading cause of death in Africa.

New improved data has resulted in new AIDS figures being released by the UNAIDS organization. According to the data new infections are now starting to fall, which is thought to be the result of a number of programmes put in place to educate people about the disease.

Figures estimate that around 33.2 million people are currently suffering from HIV. It is thought that some 1.8 to 4.1 million people are becoming infected with AIDS each year and that around 1.9 to 2.4 million people are dying from the disease each year. This figure is lower than the estimate released in 2006, which stated that 39.5 million people were infected with AIDS. However as a result of the improved data it is now thought that 32.7 million people were infected in 2006.

The worse affected area of the world is sub-Saharan Africa, where it is thought 1.7 million people were infected with AIDS in 2007. However, figures show that this is a noticeably lower figure since 2001. Estimates show that around 22.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected wit the AIDS virus. This makes up 68% of the amount of people affected in the world. This means that the eight countries in this part of the world are responsible for one third of the AIDS cases and deaths from the infection.

AIDS infections in other parts of the world have significantly increased since the year 2001; the year that the United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDs was signed. In Eastern Europe HIV cases have risen over 150%, or 630,000 people infected to a now estimated figure of 1.6 million. This figure also includes infection increases in Central Asia. Infections in Vietnam have hugely increased with the number of people effected doubling over a five year time period. It is thought that Indonesia has the most severe problem in Asia, as numbers in this country are the fastest rising in the region.

The new AIDS figures are jointly released by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). They show that AIDS is still a major health issue around the globe and that education programmes about the virus must not be neglected.

The report points out that education programmes have reduced figures in Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Haiti, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Togo, a positive sign that education is slowly helping in some of the worst affected areas. Many countries, including Burundi, that had shown decreased AIDS infections are now showing a rise again after their education programmes about the disease were reduced, proving how important it is to increase not decrease awareness.

The report also points out that even though infection levels are levelling off there are more and more people surviving with the virus due to improved medical care increasing survival times.

Figures estimate that around 6,800 people a day are currently becoming infected with the AIDS virus.

Source
UNAIDS Press Release: