Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Tuesday June 23 5:34 PM EDT
Ed Susman
In a press briefing (Tuesday), UNAIDS officials point to alarming statistics in the African nations of Zimbabwe and Botswana where one in four adults are infected with the AIDS virus.
Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, headquartered in Geneva, says "this is a new world high."
The data on the 41.3 million cases of HIV/AIDS identified in the 20 years of the epidemic is released on the eve of the 12th World AIDS Conference which begins in Geneva this weekend.
Piot says, "HIV rates are slowing down, but only among nations using proven prevention strategies."
He says those countries include the United States and most industrialized countries as well as a handful of developing countries such as Uganda, Thailand and Senegal.
Piot says, "In the rest of the world, AIDS is increasing. In 27 countries the rate of HIV infection doubled from 1994 to 1997."
Since the beginning of the epidemic in the late 1970s, 41.3 million people around the world have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Of that number 11.7 million have died of AIDS; 30.6 million people are living with HIV infection although UNAIDS estimates that only just 10 percent realize they carry the virus.
Piot says the country-by-country listing shows how the epidemic has especially impacted Africa where the epidemic began:
_Three million people are infected in South Africa.
_In 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, at least 10 percent of adults are infected.
_A total of 21 million people south of the Sahara are infected.
_In many major cities in sub-Saharan Africa, 35 percent of adults are infected.
_Strong prevention programs in Uganda slashed prevalence rates of HIV from 13 percent in 1994 to 9.5 percent in 1997 _ about a 25 percent decline. Piot says that despite attempts to combat AIDS around the world, there are still major gaps between industrialized and developing worlds, particularly in disease transmission rates; access to medication; knowledge of the disease; and prevention strategies.
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