UNITED NATIONS, Dec 1 (AFP) - Important political progress has been made against AIDS although there is no realistic hope of a vaccine for at least five years, the executive director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, said Wednesday.

 "We need a vaccine to stop the epidemic," he told a news conference held to mark International AIDS Day.

 But, he added, "this has been a year of breakthroughs in a number of areas, not only on the scientific side but in political will in several African and African countries."

 Africa is the focus of a report published Wednesday by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) which says that 95 percent of the 11.2 million children who have been orphaned by AIDS live in sub-Saharan countries.

 "The bad news is that things are going to get worse before they get better," Piot said. He estimated that by the end of next year, 13 million children under the age of 15 would have lost their mothers or both parents to AIDS.

 Asked whether there was a realistic hope of developing a vaccine to prevent the disease, Piot replied: "We should not count on an effective vaccine for at least another five years and, I'm afraid, for much longer."

 But, he said, there were hopes of lowering the price of drugs which impede the transmission of HIV -- the human immunodeficiency virus -- from mothers to children and making them affordable in poor countries. HIV causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome. AIDS has claimed a record 2.6 million lives this year, according to the United Nations.

 "That is a realistic option," said Piot, who heads UNAIDS, a coordinating program for AIDS involving various UN agencies.

 "It won't be easy. It will require major investments, but UNICEF and other agencies have started to put that in place."

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