United Press International - Saturday, 2 December 2000
Joyce Frieden, UPI Science News

"Young women aged 15 to 24 are now often more than twice as likely to be living with HIV as young men in the same age group," said Mark Malloch Browne, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. "That is why 'Men Make a Difference,' the theme of this year's World AIDS Day, is so important. The focus on the role of men highlights the critical importance of changing male attitudes and behaviors, including a propensity for sexual risk-taking. Only through a change in attitudes and behaviors will we succeed in slowing this epidemic."

Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, the United Nations' AIDS organization, noted that "All too often, silence between men and women about sexual matters results in their failing to use simple prevention measures, and silence about partners outside a relationship can result in a failure of protection."

According to figures from UNAIDS, 3 million people worldwide died of AIDS in the year 2000, bringing the total number of AIDS deaths since the epidemic started to 21.3 million. Another 5.3 million people contracted HIV this year.

Marty Algaze, spokesman for the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the oldest AIDS organization in the U.S., said there are some reasons to be optimistic about the future for AIDS patients.

"People are now able to live longer and more productive lives because of the new AIDS medications like protease inhibitors," said Algaze, in New York. "That's something to be optimistic about." And drug makers are combining several medications into one in an attempt to address patient complaints about the large number of pills they need to take at precise times throughout each day.

But Algaze also warned that people shouldn't become too complacent. "We don' t want anyone to think, 'Oh, if I catch AIDS I can take these pills and it's okay.' It's still no picnic. We need to remind people how dangerous the world still is, and how they need to protect themselves and not get infected."

Globally, the epidemic appears to have stabilized in sub-Saharan Africa, which had 3.8 million new infections this year, down slightly from 4 million in 1999. On the other hand, more new infections were reported in the Russian Federation this year than in all previous years of the epidemic combined, according to UNAIDS. Unsafe intravenous drug use is suspected to be the biggest contributing factor.
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