UN AIDS specialists announce number of people infected throughout the world
declines slightly ahead of International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. 

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (JULY 29, 2008) REUTERS -
The annual United Nations report on the worldwide AIDS epidemic was
presented in Mexico City on Tuesday (July 29), launched ahead of an
international AIDS conference in Mexico next week. 
    The numbers of people dying of AIDS and becoming infected with HIV have
dropped modestly in recent years amid intensified global efforts to fight the
disease, a U.N. agency said on Tuesday. 
    Some 33 million people globally were infected with HIV in 2007 -- most
in Africa, south of the Sahara Desert -- down from 33.2 million in 2006,
according to the report. 
    The number of AIDS deaths fell for the second straight year, with an
estimated 2 million people succumbing to the disease in 2007, according to the
report by UNAIDS. AIDS deaths had climbed steadily through 2005 since the
disease was first identified in the early 1980s.
    UNAIDS reported last year that 2.1 million people died of AIDS in 2006.

    The United Nations programme coordinator in Mexico, Magdy
Martinez-Soliman, said the fight is not over. 
    "Although the most recent data says the prevalence of HIV in the
world has stabilized, the figures continue to be overwhelming. We have not
beaten it (the illness). As the General Secretary said the day before
yesterday, "it's not over," the struggle against aids has not
finished. Our fundamental duty as the United Nations is to support all
countries, so that everyone has access to prevention measures, treatment,
attention and support." 
    The number of people newly infected with HIV, which ravages the immune
system, fell to 2.7 million in 2007 from 3 million in 2001, the report said.

    A representative of the Pan-American Health Organization in Mexico and
the UNAIDS thematic group president, Philippe Lamy, said the number of HIV
infected people in Latin America alone was 1.7 million. 
    "It has been estimated the number of people living with HIV in
2007 is 1.7 million people. In total numbers, the most affected countries are
those with the largest populations, in particular Brazil, who has more than 40
percent of people living with the decease, followed by Mexico with close to
200,000 HIV positive people," Lamy said. 
    Sub-Saharan Africa remained the part of the world most heavily impacted
by AIDS, with 67 percent of all people infected with HIV and 72 percent of
deaths occurring in the impoverished region, according to the report. 
    The report said the number of new HIV infections has fallen in several
countries, but rates of new HIV infections are rising in many countries
including China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Russia,
Ukraine and Vietnam. 
    HIV infections also are increasing in countries like Germany, Britain
and Australia, the report said. 
    Latin American UNAIDS Director, Cesar Nuñez, said the number of
infections had dropped in East Asia and Central Africa. 
    "I think we can be very happy that there has been an important
increase in efforts of prevention and treatment around the world. The number
of new infections has lowered in many countries, in particular East Asia and
other countries in Central Africa. The epidemic however is not over in any
country around the world and continuous efforts are needed to create a
result." 
    The report was released five days after the U.S. Congress approved a
large expansion of a program to fight AIDS and other diseases in Africa and
other parts of the world, sending it to President George W. Bush to sign it
into law. 
    The measure calls for $48 billion over the next five years to help
treat and prevent AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. That is up sharply from the
$15 billion Congress initially funded for the first five years of the program
that began in 2003. A total of $39 billion of the money is intended to fight
AIDS. 
    The report noted that about 3 million people are now receiving AIDS
drugs in low- and middle-income countries. In most parts of the world, it
said, more women are receiving treatment than men. 
    The report also comes amid several setbacks in efforts to develop an
effective vaccine against AIDS.