HIV epidemic 'is getting worse'

Sub-Saharan Africa is still bearing the brunt of the HIV/Aids epidemic, a UNAids report has revealed.

Almost three-quarters of deaths from Aids in 2006 occurred there and two-thirds of those living with HIV are in that area.

UNAids says there are an estimated 39.5 million people now living with HIV. The number living with the virus has increased everywhere, with the most striking increases in East Asia and Central Asia/Eastern Europe. Some countries, such as Uganda, are seeing a resurgence in new HIV infection rates which were previously stable or declining.

The report, which is based on disease surveillance around the world, says there were an estimated 4.3 million new HIV infections this year, with 2.8 million of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Forty per cent of new infections were in people aged 15 to 24-years-old. In 2006, 2.9 million died of Aids-related illnesses.

The report says: "The future course of the world's HIV epidemics hinges in many respects on the behaviours young people adopt and maintain, and the factors that affect those choices."

In Eastern Europe/Central Asia there was a 70% increase in the number of new infections seen in 2006 compared with 2004 - 270,000 compared with 160,000.

In South-East Asia, the number of new infections rose by 15% from 2004 to 2006.
The increase is fuelled by high-risk behaviour such as injecting drug use, unprotected paid-for sex and unprotected sex between men.

Across the world, women are more likely to be affected by HIV than ever before, the report reveals. In sub-Saharan Africa, there are around 14 women living with HIV for every 10 men.

UNAids also says the HIV epidemics in Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland are continuing to grow.

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