THE UN ANNUAL REPORT : DEATH TOLL OF AIDS VICTIMS PASSES 25 MILLION

AIDS has now killed 25 million people around the world but the number of new infections is slowing sharply,according to the report.

Almost 60 million people have been infected by the HIV virus since it was first recorded but prevention programs are having a significant impact.

About two million people died of the disease in 2008, bringing the overall toll to about 25 million since the virus was first detected three decades ago. In 2008, about 2.7 million were newly infected.

Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS executive director, said the number of new HIV infections has been reduced by 17 per cent over the past eight years, with some of the most notable progress reported in Africa.

HIV incidence has fallen by 25 per cent since 2001 in East Africa, while the figure for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole was about 15 per cent - equating to around 400,000 fewer infections in 2008, the report says.

"However, the findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that if we do a better job of getting resources and programs to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved."

The new report showed that more people than ever, about 33.4 million, are now living with the virus as people live longer due to the beneficial effects of antiretroviral therapy

"International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up has yielded concrete and measurable results. We cannot let this momentum wane," said Margaret Chan, head of the UN's World Health Organisation.

"This tells us that we must work for a unified health approach bringing maternal and child health and HIV programs as well as tuberculosis programs together to work to achieve their common goal."



.