JAKARTA, 21 November 2006 – The 2006 AIDS Epidemic update launched on Tuesday in Geneva showed that more people are dying from AIDS despite the increase in access to antiretroviral treatment.
The report indicated that while access to treatment and care has greatly increased in recent years – from 240,000 people receiving antiretroviral treatment in low- and middle-income countries in 2001 to 1.65 million people as of June 2006 – an estimated 2.9 million people have died of AIDS this year, compared to 2.2 million in 2001.
In Asia, the number of people receiving antiretroviral therapy has increased more than three-fold since 2003, and reached an estimated 235,000 by June 2006. The number of deaths attributed to AIDS, however, is estimated at about 630,000 people during the year.
“Despite the increase in access to antiretroviral treatment, more people are dying from AIDS-related illnesses because there are more people than ever needing access to treatment. Availability and access to antiretroviral treatment is not keeping up with the need,” UNAIDS Manager for Epidemic and Impact Monitoring Dr. Peter Ghys explained.
The report also indicated that HIV infections continue unabated in many parts of the world. Large increases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia throughout the year brought the number of new infections to 4.3 million people, with almost one million occurring across Asia.
Ghys however said that the number of new infections was still relatively stable, “we need to look at the trends over the past 5 years rather than just the 2 years. The difference between 4.1 million in 2001 and 4.3 million in 2006 is just 200,000, well within the margin of error”.
Excluding India, almost half of prevalent HIV infections in Asia in 2005 were among sex workers and their clients, over a fifth were among people who inject drugs, while sex between men remains a small but significant proportion of new infections.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is still struggling with dual infection. In Papua, HIV is now well established in the general population and that almost one percent of adults in several villages have been found to be living with HIV. The chief contributing factor in this localized epidemic appears to be unsafe paid sex.
In other parts of the Indonesia, the high HIV infection levels found among the estimated 145,000 to 170,000 people who inject drugs heralds possible wider HIV outbreaks in the country. Some 170,000 adults were estimated to be living with HIV in 2005.
Data unveiled in the 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update showed that it is smart to invest in prevention measures.
The new data shows positive trends in prevalence rates where prevention strategies have been adapted to local epidemics, have taken into account all behaviors and are culturally and socially appropriate, such as in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and urban areas of Burkina Faso and Haiti.
The 2006 AIDS Epidemic update also showed that governments must fully understand the epidemics occurring in their own countries, and that even limited resources can show high returns when investments are focused on the needs of people most likely to be exposed to HIV.
In China, for example, three years after a 100% condom use program was introduced for sex workers in Li county, Hunan province, self-reported condom use increased almost four-fold and the number of reported sexually transmitted infections fell by almost two thirds.
Also in China, the benefits of need and syringe exchange projects started in 1999 are beginning to materialize, with the numbers of injecting drug users sharing needles has dropped and HIV awareness increased four-fold.
However, the 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update also showed that in many countries HIV prevention programs are failing to reach those at greatest risk. In Vietnam, for example, fewer than half of young people demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of HIV, while in rural areas of India, large proportions of women with HIV appear to have acquired the virus from regular partners who were infected during paid sex.
The new data suggests that where HIV prevention programs have not been sustained and/or adapted as epidemics have changed, infection rates in some countries (or parts of countries) are staying the same or going back up.
In Thailand, for example, while the number of new annual HIV infections continues to drop, a large percentage of new HIV infections are occurring in people considered to be of low-risk of infection, such as among married women.
HIV treatment and prevention programs must be scaled up rapidly and simultaneously to reach the goal of universal access by 2010.
The 2006 AIDS epidemic update is a report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It includes contributions from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Hein Marais.
For more information:
Yasmine Topor | UNAIDS Geneva | tel. +41 22 791 3501 | topory@unaids.org
Sophie Barton-Knott | UNAIDS Geneva | tel. +41 22 791 1697 | bartonknotts@unaids.org
Elis Widen | UNAIDS Jakarta | tel. +62 21 314 1885 | +62 812 1970 449 | elis.unaids@undp.org
Tantri Yuliandini | UNAIDS Jakarta | tel. +62 21 314 1885 | +62 818 826 874 | yuliandiniT@unaids.org
UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, brings together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organizations to the global AIDS response. Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank. Based in Geneva, the UNAIDS secretariat works on the ground in more than 75 countries world wide.
