AIDS epidemic continues to devastate around the world
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the downward arc in prevalence rates continues in parts of the African continent in Uganda, Senegal and Zambia. The common thread appears to have been, among others, determined prevention efforts and strong political support.
The shining example remains Uganda where HIV prevalence in pregnant women in urban areas has fallen for eight years in a row from a high of 29,5% in 1992 to 11,25% in 2000.
According to the AIDS Epidemic Update, released by UNAIDS today (Wednesday), an estimated 40 million people are living with HIV. This year, about five million people around the world became infected. In 2001, alone, AIDS claimed three million lives, of which 2,3-million were in Africa, according to the UNAIDS figures. A gloomy statistic is the fact that about one third of people currently living with HIV/AIDS are aged 15 to 24. ‘Most of them do not know they carry the virus,’ said UNAIDS.
In high income countries, over 75 000 people acquired HIV in 2001. New evidence of rising HIV infection rates in North America, parts of Europe and Australia is emerging, UNAIDS said.
Unsafe sex, reflected in outbreaks of sexually transmitted infections, and widespread injecting drug use are propelling these epidemics in the developed countries.
In high income countries there is evidence that HIV is moving into poorer and more deprived communities.
African-Americans, for instance, make up only 12% of the population in the United States, but constituted 47% of AIDS cases reported there in 2000.
‘We now know that HIV/AIDS is more than just a health issue. It is indeed more than a development issue, encompassing, as it does, human security in its broadest sense ‘ the fundamental need for people everywhere to live safe, healthy and productive lives,’ UNAIDS heads said in a statement.
‘Reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS depends on increasing access to comprehensive AIDS strategies. There is broad consensus that prevention, care, support and treatment are mutually reinforcing. What is needed is sustained implementation of effective responses to the epidemic,’ the statement said.
In his World AIDS Day message, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said AIDS was one of the biggest obstacles to development itself as it affected regional and global stability and risked slowing democratic development. ‘In this way, AIDS not only takes away the present. It takes away the future. That is the toll of AIDS.’
He said that after years of slow and inadequate responses, this year had seen a turning point in the fight against the epidemic. Annan said that 11 September had ‘made us all think more deeply about the kind of world we want for our children.
‘The United Nations’ mission to improve the lives of peoples everywhere has become even more urgent. That means redoubling our efforts to turn back HIV/AIDS.’
‘ Health-e News Service
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