The latest update on the HIV/AIDS epidemic was releasedTuesday. The UNAIDS report says an estimated 33 million people are now livingwith HIV, the AIDS virus. It says in 2007, there were 2.7 million newinfections, while two million people died of AIDS last year.
Butthere is encouraging news in the report. Karen Stanecki is a seniorepidemiologist with UNAIDS. From Geneva, she spoke to VOA English to AfricaService reporter Joe De Capua about the findings.
"Wehave seen a substantial increase in HIV prevention efforts and we are seeingthat these are producing results. In some of the heavily affected countries,such as Rwanda and Zimbabwe, changes in sexual behavior have been followed bydeclines in the number of new infections," she says.
Shecompares the latest findings to those of recent years. "The number of new HIVinfections has fallen in several countries. However, the AIDS epidemic is notover in any part of the world and HIV is going to require long-term responsethat is grounded in evidence and human rights," she says.
Why human rights? Stanecki says, "To protectpeople from discrimination and stigma, we want to ensure that everybody hasaccess to the health services and prevention efforts that they need in order toprotect themselves from becoming infected. So that will mean that governmentswill have to take a strong stand in dealing with where the epidemic isoccurring. And it may be among those at most of risk populations where they'reinvolved in illegal behaviors, but they need access to prevention programs,"she says.
The UNAIDS report has some good news regardingyoung people. "We're seeing that they're waiting longer to become sexuallyactive. This has been seen in seven of the most affected countries, countriessuch as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. Forexample, the percentage of young people having sex before the age of 15 hasgone down from 35 percent to 14 percent in Cameroon. We're also seeing thatyoung people are reporting having fewer partners. So the percentage of youngmen and women who are reported having more than one partner the last 12 monthsdeclined in ten of the most affected countries. And those countries are mostlyin sub-Saharan Africa. And as well among young people, condom use is increasingfor those with multiple partners," she says.
As for treatment, the UNAIDS epidemiologist says,"In low and middle income countries, we have now three million people who areon treatment. And one million alone started treatment in 2007. So, we're vastlyscaling up the number of people who are on treatment."
There are also figures regarding treatment forHIV-positive women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. "In additionto treatment for mothers for their own illness, we are also seeing increasesin?mother-to-child treatment programs, with HIV-positive pregnant womenreceiving antiretrovirals to prevent the transmission to their children." Shesaid those figures have increased from 14 to 33 percent.