Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Los Angeles Times - February 15, 2008
AIDS in Africa * 68% of all people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa, where more than three-fourths of all AIDS-related deaths in 2007 occurred.
* 1.7 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were newly infected with HIV in 2007, bringing to 22.5 million the number of people living with the virus in the region.
* 61% of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women.
* Adult HIV prevalence is starting to decline in Kenya and Zimbabwe, and similar signs are being seen in Ivory Coast, Mali and urban Burkina Faso. In these countries there is also evidence of a shift toward safer sex practices.
AIDS treatment * A critical shortage of healthcare workers and restrictions on prescribing life-saving drugs are crippling the war on HIV/AIDS in southern Africa, according to a report by Doctors Without Borders.
* An estimated 1 million people with HIV in South Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Lesotho -- four of the countries hardest hit -- do not have access to antiretroviral drugs.
* In South Africa, 700,000 HIV patients are going without treatment. The crisis is especially bad in rural areas where clinics are overwhelmed by a backlog of cases.
The global picture * 33.2 million people are living with HIV worldwide, up from 29 million in 2001, according to UNAIDS.
* 2.5 million people were newly infected with the virus in 2007 and 2.1 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
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