Global HIV grows to nearly 40 million infections
The global HIV epidemic is growing, leaving an estimated 39.5 million people worldwide infected with the deadly virus, the United Nations said in Geneva, today.
Aids has claimed 2.9 million lives this year and another 4.3 million people became infected with HIV, according to the UN’s Aids epidemic update report, published today.
Spread of the disease was most noticeable in East Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Aids has killed more than 25 million people since the first case was reported in 1981, making it one of the most destructive illnesses in history.
“In a short quarter of a century Aids has drastically changed our world,” UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said at a staff meeting in Geneva.
“Aids, tuberculosis and malaria make up the deadliest triad the world has known.”
However, he said improvement in treatment, more resources and higher political commitment over the past 10 years gave rise to optimism.
