[procaare] Press Release: HIV Rates Decrease in Some Countries but Global Prevalence Rises

["UNAIDS" <procaare@healthnet.org>]

HIV INFECTION RATES DECREASING IN SEVERAL COUNTRIES BUT GLOBAL NUMBER OF
PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV CONTINUES TO RISE
UNAIDS-WHO Press Release
GENEVA, 21 November 2005
***********

Increased HIV prevention and treatment efforts needed to slow and
reverse AIDS epidemic, according to new UNAIDS/WHO report

[*Mod: Full report at http://www.unaids.org/Epi2005/doc/report.html ]

GENEVA, 21 November 2005 ? There is new evidence that adult HIV
infection rates have decreased in certain countries and that changes in
behaviour to prevent infection?such as increased use of condoms, delay
of first sexual experience and fewer sexual partners?have played a key
part in these declines. The new UN report also indicates, however, that
overall trends in HIV transmission are still increasing, and that far
greater HIV prevention efforts are
needed to slow the epidemic.

Kenya, Zimbabwe and some countries in the Caribbean region all show
declines in HIV prevalence over the past few years with overall adult
infection rates decreasing in Kenya from a peak of 10% in the late 1990s
to 7% in 2003 and evidence of drops in HIV rates among pregnant women in
Zimbabwe from 26% in 2003 to 21% in 2004. In urban areas of Burkina Faso
prevalence among young pregnant women declined from around 4% in 2001 to
just under 2% in 2003.

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 Organization (WHO). The joint report, which this
year focuses on HIV prevention, was released today in advance of World
AIDS Day, marked worldwide on the first of December. Several recent
developments in the Caribbean region (in 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.

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 500000 were children.

According to the report, the steepest increases in HIV infections have
occurred in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (25% increase to 1.6
million) and East Asia. But sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the most
affected globally? with 64% of new infections occurring here (over three
million people).

?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. ?It is clear that a
rapid increase in the scale and scope of HIV prevention programmes is
urgently needed. We must move from small projects with short-term
horizons to long-term, comprehensive strategies,? he added.

Impact of HIV Treatment

The report recognizes that access to HIV treatment has improved markedly
over the past two years. More than one million people in low-and
middle-income countries are now living longer and better lives because
they are on antiretroviral treatment and an estimated 250 000 to 350 000
deaths were averted this year because of expanded access to HIV
treatment.

Commenting on the potential enhanced impact of integrating prevention
and treatment, the 2005 report emphasizes that a comprehensive response
to HIV and AIDS requires the simultaneous acceleration of treatment and
prevention efforts with the ultimate goal of universal access to
prevention, treatment and care.

"We can now see the clear benefit of scaling up HIV treatment and
prevention together and not as isolated interventions," said WHO
Director-General Dr LEE Jong-wook. "Treatment availability provides a
powerful incentive for governments to support, and individuals to seek
out, HIV prevention information and voluntary counselling and testing.
Effective prevention can also help reduce the number of individuals who
will ultimately require care, making broad access to treatment more
achievable and sustainable."

Future challenges for strengthening HIV prevention

New data show that in Latin America, Eastern Europe and particularly
Asia, the combination of injecting drug use and sex work is fuelling
epidemics, and prevention programmes are falling short of addressing
this overlap. The report shows how sustained, intensive programmes in
diverse settings have helped bring about decreases in HIV
incidence?among young people in Uganda and Tanzania, among sex workers
and their clients in Thailand and India, and among injecting drug users
in Spain and Brazil.

The report notes that, without HIV prevention measures, about 35% of
children born to HIVpositive women will contract the virus. While
mother-to-child transmission has been virtually eliminated from
industrialized countries and service coverage is improving in many other
places, it still falls far short in most of sub-Saharan Africa. An
accelerated scale-up of services is urgently needed to reduce this
unacceptable toll.

Levels of knowledge of safe sex and HIV remain low in many countries ?
even in countries with high and growing prevalence. In 24 sub-Saharan
countries (including Cameroon, Côte d?Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal
and Uganda), two-thirds or more of young women (aged 15-24 years) lacked
comprehensive knowledge of HIV transmission. According to a major survey
carried out in the Philippines in 2003, more than 90% of respondents
still believed that HIV could be transmitted by sharing a meal with an
HIV-positive person.

Finally, weak HIV surveillance in several regions including in some
countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North
Africa is hampering prevention efforts and often means that people at
highest risk ? men who have sex with men, sex workers, and injecting dug
users ? are not adequately covered or reached through HIV prevention and
treatment strategies.

The annual AIDS Epidemic Update reports on the latest developments in
the global AIDS epidemic. With maps and regional estimates, the 2005
edition provides the most recent estimates on the epidemic?s scope and
human toll, explores new trends in the epidemic?s evolution, and
features a special section on HIV prevention.

For more information, please contact:

UNAIDS Press office
Dominique de Santis, UNAIDS, Paris, (+41 79) 254 6803 (mobile)
Sophie Barton-Knott, UNAIDS, Geneva, (+41 22) 791 1697
Beth Magne-Watts, UNAIDS, Geneva, (+41 22) 791 5074
Jonathan Rich, UNAIDS, New York, (+ 1 212) 532 0255

World Health Organization
Klomjit Chandrapanya, WHO, Geneva, (+41 22) 791 5589.
WHO North American HIV/AIDS Media Line, (+1 212) 584 5031

The complete report can be accessed on the UNAIDS website ?
www.unaids.org