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HIV/AIDS: Worldwide epidemiological data
2008 UNAIDS Report: The latest on the AIDS epidemic
In 2007, new methodological techniques for calculating HIV prevalence rates led to the new estimates of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the number of people living with the disease worldwide. However, our understanding of the gravity and dire consequences of the pandemic has hardly been attenuated. It is estimated that 33 million (30.3 - 36.1 million) people were living with HIV in 2007, that is 16% less than the figure of 39.5 million (34.7 - 47.1 million) published by UNAIDS and the WHO in 2006.
The epidemic caused by the Human Immunodificiency Virus
(HIV) has been raging for more than 30 years.
Since its first appearance in 1981, the virus has infected more than 65
million people. If the prevention of
opportunistic infections and the introduction of antiviral therapies since 1996
have upended the natural progression of the disease in rich countries,
improving the life expectancy and quality of life of many patients, more than
33 million people in the world are still living with the virus.
Of these 33 million people, 95% are living in
economically disadvantaged countries.
The most recent epidemiological data put out by UNAIDS on
the occasion of the World AIDS Day show that:
If world prevalence rates (the proportion of people living
with the virus) have stabilized due to the development of national
AIDS programs including treatment with antiretrovirals (ARVs), the absolute
number of people living with HIV in the world continues to increase.
AIDS remains one of the principal causes of death in the
world.
The pandemic has spared no continent; Asia and the countries
of East and Central Europe are experiencing a
quickly growing epidemic.
In Europe, it is France
and the United Kingdom
that have the largest epidemics.
Africa remains the most affected region, where almost 70%
of infected people live - almost 23 million people.
Zoom on Afirca
- About 1.9 million people were newly infected by HIV in 2007 and, unlike in other regions, the majority of these were women : almost 60% of Africans living with HIV/AIDS are women
- Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for 67% of all people living with HIV and for 75% of AIDS deaths in 2007, although only 10% of the world's population lives in Africa
- Three quarters (75%) of all AIDS deaths in 2007 occurred in Africa
- Within the African continent, Southern Africa remains the worst affected: prevalence rates in 2007 exceeded 15% in seven southern African countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
Data from the 2008 UNAIDS report
Given that it primarily affects people between the ages of 20 and 40 - and
especially young women - the social, economic, and culturla impact of the
pandemic on the African continent is considerable.
With a 30-year drop in life expectancy in the most affected countries of
southern Africa, the demographic progress of Africa
has been halted, potentially mortgaging the continent's economic growth.
Far from being a mere public health issue, the impact of AIDS/AIDS in Africa brings to the fore political, economic, social,
and scientific questions of great importance.
Focus: Info on HIV
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