HIV infection rate swells, according to U.N. report

By Roni Rabin
Newsday

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Eastern Europe and Asia are the new hot spots, the report said: The number of infections in Eastern Europe grew by 46 percent last year, to reach 1.3 million, while the number of infections in Asia rose by 17 percent — 1.1 million new infections — to reach 7.4 million.

"We're entering the true globalization phase" of the pandemic, said Dr. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, the United Nations' joint program on HIV/AIDS. He addressed a teleconference with reporters from London.

While the vast majority of people with HIV infection are still concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, Piot said, "one out of every four new infections in the world occurs in Asia, and the fastest growing epidemic is happening in Eastern Europe."

In Asia, an estimated 7.4 million people are living with HIV, 5.1 million in India. Sharp increases were seen in China, Indonesia and Vietnam, where the spread is driven by intravenous drug use, prostitution and unprotected sex among men having sex with men.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of infections has stabilized at 25 million, though the 3 million new infections kept pace with AIDS deaths. Women make up 57 percent of those in Africa with HIV, the report said.

In high-income countries, AIDS deaths have slowed, but there are signs of increased heterosexual transmission in western Europe, the report said. In the United States, AIDS is the leading cause of death for African-American women 25-34.

The U.N. report estimates 38 million people worldwide are living with HIV, slightly less than the previous estimate of 40 million, a result of new methods of calculation.

The adjustment does not, however, reflect a deceleration in HIV's spread, said Piot and Karen Stanecki, the UNAIDS senior adviser for demographics. While the revision corrects for overestimating infection in rural areas, sentinel surveillance sites report increases, Stanecki said.

In sub-Saharan Africa, "people continue to become infected as frequently as they are dying," Stanecki said.

The report also said:

• $12 billion is needed for prevention and care in poor and middle-income countries next year, up from just less than $5 billion in current global AIDS spending.

• Worldwide, women account for nearly half of all HIV cases.

• Brazil, Cambodia and Thailand have reduced HIV rates. Thailand reduced infections from 140,000 a year in 1991 to 21,000 last year through promotion of condoms and education for behavioral change.

• Among young people ages 15-24 in Africa, far more girls and women are infected than men.

• And in southern Africa, studies have shown that teenage girls often have their first sexual experience with men five to 15 years older. "Theoretically, if boys and girls start their sexual life having sex only with someone of their own age, the epidemic would slowly die out," Piot said.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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