HIV/AIDS: in the global community

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS) is a global problem. In December 2002, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there were over 42 million people living with HIV or AIDS around the world. 38.6 million of these are adults, 19.2 million are women and 3.2 million are children under the age of 15. Five million new infections with HIV occurred in 2002 of which 4.2 million were adults, 2 million were women and 800,000 were children. A total of 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS related causes in 2002.

Although many think of HIV as an infection of gays and IV drug users, most of the cases worldwide are due to sexual contact between a man and woman. New cases are occurring most rapidly in the developing nations within Africa, Asia, and South and Central America.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of individuals living with HIV/AIDS. That number is 29.4 million people. It is followed by South and South-East Asia with 6 million people. In North America, there are nearly one million people, 570,000 in Western Europe and over one million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The number of HIV/AIDS individuals in Australia and New Zealand has remained constant since 2001 at 15,000 people. In Latin America, there are over one million people and 440,000 in the Caribbean living with HIV/AIDS. East Asia and the Pacific have over one million people living with HIV/AIDS and North Africa and the Middle East have 550,000 people.

In industrialized countries, antiviral medications have greatly improved the outcome for people living with HIV/AIDS. However, 95 percent of people with HIV/AIDS live in developing countries and have little or no access to these medicines, and less that 10 percent of people with HIV/AIDS have access to symptomatic care for opportunistic infections. Unaffordable prices for drugs is the most common reason for limited access, but also a shortage of capacity and trained health care providers are obstacles in many countries.

People who live with HIV face many difficulties such as:

• cost of medications and medical care to treat their illness
• assistance required to help with activities of daily living and
• prejudice, fear, and scorn by many people just because they are HIV-positive

The Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS adopted by the world's governments at the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on HIV/AIDS in June 2001, established time-bound targets to which governments and the United Nations are accountable.

Last Reviewed 2005

Disclaimer: This content is reviewed periodically and is subject to change as new health information becomes available. The information provided is intended to be informative and educational and is not a replacement for professional medical evaluation, advice, diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional.

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