Global AIDS epidemic continues to grow - UN

Accra, Nov. 22 - The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow and there is evidence that some countries, which were having stable or declining rates, are seeing resurgence in new HIV infection. However, declines in infection rates are also being observed in some countries, as well as positive trends in young people's sexual behaviours, the UN said in a statement released in Accra on Wednesday by the UN information Centre.

According to the latest figures published in the UNAIDS/WHO 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update, an estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV.

"There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65 per cent) of these occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa and important increases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where there are some indications that infection rates have risen by more than 50 per cent since 2004. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. New data suggest that where HIV prevention programmes have not been sustained and/or adapted as epidemics have changed-infection rates in some countries and are staying the same or going back up. In North America and Western Europe, HIV prevention programmes have often not been sustained and the number of new infections has remained the same.

"Similarly in low and middle-income countries, there are only a few examples of countries that have actually reduced new infections. "And some countries that had showed earlier successes in reducing new infections, such as Uganda, have either slowed or are now experiencing increasing infection rates.

"This is worrying-as we know increased HIV prevention programmes in these countries have shown progress in the past - Uganda being a prime example. This means that countries are not moving at the same speed as their epidemics," said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot. "We need to greatly intensify life-saving prevention efforts while we expand HIV treatment programmes."

The statement said HIV prevention works needs to be focused and sustained. New data from the report show that increased HIV prevention programmes that are focused and adapted to reach those most at risk of HIV infection are making inroads.

Positive trends in young people's sexual behaviours - increased use of condoms; delay of sexual debut and fewer sexual partners - have taken place over the past decade in many countries with generalized epidemics.

Declines in HIV prevalence among young people between 2000 and 2005 are evident in Botswana, Burundi, C=F4te d'Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.