New HIV infections, AIDS-related deaths decrease

GENEVA - The 2011 witnessed a worldwide decrease in both number of new HIV infections and number of AIDS-related deaths, a United Nations report launched here reported on Tuesday.

An estimated 2.5 million people were newly-infected with HIV in 2011, some 100,000 fewer than in 2010 and 700,000 fewer than in 2001, according to the World AIDS Day Report 2012 of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS.

Half of all reductions in new HIV infections in the last two years have been among newborn children, which showed that elimination of new infections in children is possible, said the report.

The report highlighted that a more-than-50-percent reduction in the rate of new HIV infections since 2001 has been achieved across 25 low and middle-income countries, more than half of which are in Africa, the region most-affected by HIV.

In some of the countries which have the highest HIV prevalence in the world, rates of new HIV infections have been cut dramatically since 2001 -- by 73 percent in Malawi, 71 percent in Botswana, 68 percent in Namibia and 58 percent in Zambia, according to the report.

The report estimated that about 34 million people are living with HIV in 2011, with 50 percent knowing their HIV status.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a record 2.3 million people had access to treatment. China has increased the number of people on HIV treatment by nearly 50 percent in 2011.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said China is a "success story."

"They are completely controlling epidemics among people who inject drugs," he said.

He said the challenge in China will remain to making sure the HIV/AIDS service delivery system to be better organized in order to expand the government services to reach people where they are.

He pointed out that new strategy is needed to ensure services to reach those who get infected through man having sex with man, as the rate is growing in China.

There is only a 30 percent gap in resources remains for funding the AIDS response by 2015, said the report.

Sidibe said the most import thing was to mobilize political leadership and develop new strategies to maximize the use of resources that have already been invested in combating the epidemic.