GENEVA, Switzerland (CMC):
THE NUMBER of people living with HIV/AIDS has declined in the Caribbean despite an increase in all other regions of the world, according to a new UNAIDS/World Health Organisation (WTO) report issued in Switzerland yesterday.
The report also showed that some countries of the Caribbean region recorded a decrease in the number of HIV/AIDS infections in the past few years.
It said that there was new evidence that adult HIV/AIDS infection rates have decreased in certain countries and that changes in behaviour to prevent infection, such as increased use of condoms, delay in first sexual experience and fewer sexual partners, have played a key part in these declines.
The report also indicates, however, that overall trends in HIV transmission were still increasing, and that far greater HIV prevention efforts are needed to slow the epidemic.
It said Kenya, Zimbabwe and some countries in the Caribbean all showed declines in HIV prevalence over the past few years.
These latest findings were published in 'AIDS Epidemic Update 2005', the annual report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The report, which this year focuses on HIV prevention, was released yesterday in advance of World AIDS Day, marked worldwide on the first of December.
The report said that several recent developments in the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominican Republic and Haiti give cause for guarded optimism, with some HIV prevalence declines evident among pregnant women, signs of increased condom use among sex workers and expansion of voluntary HIV testing and counselling.
It said despite decreases in the rate of infection in certain countries, the overall number of people living with HIV has continued to increase in all regions of the world except the Caribbean.
"There were an additional five million new infections in 2005. The number of people living with HIV globally has reached its highest level with an estimated 40.3 million people, up from an estimated 37.5 million in 2003."
"More than three million people died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005; of these, more than 500,000 were children."
According to the report, the steepest increases in HIV infections have occurred in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and East Asia. But sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the most affected globally, with 64 per cent of new infections occurring there.
"We are encouraged by the gains that have been made in some countries and by the fact that sustained HIV prevention programmes have played a key part in bringing down infections. But the reality is that the AIDS epidemic continues to outstrip global and national efforts to contain it," said UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr. Peter Piot.
AIDS facts
3.1 million people died from HIV/AIDS in 2005; 570,000 were children.
Close to five million people were newly infected with the virus in 2005.
The number of people living with HIV/AIDS has increased in all regions but the Caribbean in the past two years.
Sub-Saharan Africa has just over 10 per cent of the world's population, but more than 60 per cent of all people living with HIV/AIDS.
Over 25 million people there live with HIV/AIDS, almost one million more than in 2003.
Sources: www.unaids.org and Reuters.
