Global Policy Forum

New figures released today by the United Nations show a dramatic spread of HIV/AIDS globally, with the number of people living with the virus at the end of 2000 by far exceeding the projections made a decade ago. The current number of people living with HIV or AIDS - 36.1 million - is more than 50 per cent higher than predicted in 1991, according to a report, "AIDS Epidemic Update 2000," released today in Berlin by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Noting that the challenges posed by HIV vary enormously from region to region, the UN agencies draw particular attention to the situation in sub- Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. "The AIDS situation in Africa is catastrophic and sub-Saharan Africa continues to head the list as the world's most affected region," said Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS. According to the report, an estimated 3.8 million people became infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa during the year, bringing the total number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region to 25.3 million, or almost a million more than in 1999.

One of the greatest causes of concern, the agencies warn, is that over the next few years, the epidemic is "bound to get worse before it gets better." They note that the region faces the triple challenge of providing care for the growing population infected with HIV, reducing the emergence of new infections through more effective prevention, and coping with the impact of 17 million deaths on the continent.

At the same time, experts assessing the epidemic have concluded that additional funds of $3 billion - a relatively modest contribution compared with $52 billion spent annually in the US to fight obesity - would go a long way towards coping with the epidemic, at least in sub-Saharan Africa. As for Eastern Europe, the UN agencies are reporting an almost two-fold increase in infections registered in a single year. The region now has 700,000 people living with HIV compared with 420,000 just a year ago.

According to the report, the impact was particularly severe in the Russian Federation, where new infections are higher this year than in all previous years combined. Of the country's 89 regions, 82 have reported HIV cases, with most of the new infections stemming from injecting drug use. Several such outbreaks have occurred in major urban areas, including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Irkutsk.

Among other findings, the report highlights the staggering impact of HIV/AIDS on children and underscores how education can halt the spread of the epidemic. Citing its figures, the Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), Carol Bellamy, today challenged AIDS-ravaged countries to devote more resources, energy and creativity to using schools in the battle against the blight. She urged governments, local leaders, teachers, and young people, themselves, to transform schools into "a hub of activity and enterprise" centred not only on reading and writing, but on stopping the spread of HIV.

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