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Contributions from
the Column
Monitor
Hong Kong: near failure
Strengthened individual, weakened state
Budget crisis averted
Fewer landmine victims
Health services:
passing by the poor
NGOs claim Iraq
is selling oil reserves
More people infected with HIV
French NGOs take stock
of government action
Millennium Goal still a long way off
01/2006
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More people infected with HIV
The number of people infected with HIV has increased by 2.8 million worldwide in the past two years, to a new all-time high of 40.3 million. Accordingly, the number of people living with HIV has more than doubled in the past ten years. These figures are from the annual AIDS Epidemic Update, published by the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS in late November. According to the report, more than three million people died of the immune deficiency disease in 2005 and almost five million were newly infected. Most of the new infections were in sub-Sahara Africa. More than half of the people infected with HIV worldwide live there. The health experts also worry about Eastern Europe as well as Central and East Asia. In these regions, the number of infected people increased dramatically in 2005 – by 20% and 19% respectively. On the other hand, the UN organisations registered successes in several African countries (among them Kenya and Zimbabwe) and in the Caribbean. The report states that the spread of the epidemic has been stopped in these countries; infection rates are said to have decreased in some places. According to the UN, policies that closely link prevention and treatment hold the key to success. Wherever AIDS victims have access to medication, they are more willing to be tested and to talk about the illness, which is necessary for effective prevention. (ell)
On the internet:
http://www.unaids.org
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