Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Reuters NewMedia - October 20, 2009
All agree a vaccine would be the best way to fight the pandemic, but none formulated yet has shown clear or robust effects.
Here are some facts about AIDS.
* Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for two thirds of all infections and 75 percent of AIDS deaths in 2007.
* Global deaths from AIDS reached an estimated 2 million in 2007, down from 2.1 million deaths in 2006. Since the AIDS pandemic started in the early 1980s, more than 25 million people have died from the virus.
* The annual number of new HIV infections declined to 2.7 million in 2007 from 3.0 million in 2001.
* Some 33 million people had human immunodeficiency virus infections in 2007, most of them in Africa, according to the 2008 United Nations report on the AIDS epidemic.
* In virtually all regions outside sub-Saharan Africa, HIV disproportionately affects people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, and sex workers.
* An estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007, bringing to 22 million the number of Africans living with HIV.
* More than half of the 9.5 million people who need AIDS drugs cannot get them, a United Nations report said at the end of last month.
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit, editing by Maggie Fox and Sandra Maler)
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