Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - November 25, 2003
"Five million new infections is the same as last year, the same as the year before, and the same as before that. For two decades running, we still have not broken the cycle of new infections," said Dr. Seth Berkley, MD, President and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
According to UNAIDS estimates, worldwide there are about 14,000 new HIV infections every day. Of these new daily infections, more than 2,000 were in children -- in total, approximately 700,000 children became infected with HIV in 2003.
Approximately 95% of new infections occurred in developing countries.
Nearly two-thirds of the new infections in 2003 -- more than 3 million -- occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is estimated that one in five adults is living with HIV/AIDS. More than 1 million infections occurred in South Asian and Pacific countries, including China and India.
Many scientists believe that the best way to curb the number of new infections is to accelerate the development of a preventive AIDS vaccine. A preventive vaccine is intended for people uninfected with HIV/AIDS to prevent them from contracting the disease.
A dozen vaccine candidates are now in human trials on six continents -- a record number. Still, major scientific challenges to developing a vaccine remain and the world has not dedicated enough resources to combat the disease.
IAVI estimates that less than 1% of the US $70 billion spent each year globally on health product research is dedicated to AIDS vaccine research.
IAVI (http://www.iavi.org) is a nonprofit scientific organization working to speed the search for a preventive AIDS vaccine. IAVI's major financial supporters include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the Rockefeller, Sloan and Starr foundations; the World Bank; BD; and eight national governments.
SOURCE International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
Web Site: http://www.iavi.org
031125
PR031166
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