UNAIDS: 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic

July 2008

The rate of new HIV infections is slowing in a number of countries, but the AIDS epidemic is not over in any part of the world, and is gaining pace in some.

This was the message from UNAIDS in its new data, which gives the most up-to-date snapshot of the global epidemic and the world's response to it.

The 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic notes that the number of people living with HIV around the world has stabilised at about 33 million.

There is some evidence that prevention campaigns have played a role, but the plateau in prevalence is also the result of deaths due to AIDS occurring at a similar rate as new HIV infections. About two million adults and children died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2007, but 2,7 million were newly infected; down slightly from three million in 2001.

Heterosexual intercourse is still driving the epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, which shouldered two-thirds of the global AIDS burden and three-quarters of all AIDS-related deaths in 2007.

Nine countries in southern Africa are bearing the brunt of the AIDS crisis, accounting for one-third of global infections. The epidemics in Malawi, Zambia and South Africa appear to have stabilised, and in Botswana and Zimbabwe they have started to decline, but Mozambique's epidemic is growing.

In East Africa, the epidemics in most countries have receded or remained at about 5 percent.

Click here to access the report.

Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world

February 2008

The report, "Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world",  by the WHO is based on data collected between 2002 and 2006 on 90 000 TB patients in 81 countries. It found that extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), a virtually untreatable form of the respiratory disease, has been recorded in 45 countries.

The report also found a link between HIV infection and MDR-TB. Surveys in Latvia and Ukraine found nearly twice the level of MDR-TB among TB patients living with HIV compared with patients without HIV.

Based on the analysis of the survey data, WHO estimates there are nearly half a million new cases of MDR-TB a year, which is about 5% of nine million new TB cases of all types. The highest rate was recorded in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where nearly a quarter of all new TB cases (22.3%) were reported as multidrug-resistant.

Proportions of MDR-TB among new TB cases were 19.4% in Moldova, 16% in Donetsk in Ukraine, 15% in Tomsk Oblast in the Russian Federation, and 14.8% in Tashkent in Uzbekistan. These rates surpass the highest levels of drug resistance published in the last WHO report in 2004. Surveys in China also suggest that MDR-TB is widespread there.

Although data from 33 countries not previously covered is included, the authors acknowledge that there are still significant gaps in coverage. Only six countries in Africa - the region with the highest incidence of TB in the world - were able to provide drug-resistance data. Other countries lack the laboratory or human resource capacity to detect drug-resistant TB.

Based on the available data, the WHO estimates there were 66,700 MDR-TB cases in Africa in 2006. South Africa is one of only two countries on the continent with the equipment to diagnose XDR-TB. According to Dr Paul Nunn, co-ordinator of the WHO's TB/HIV and TB Drug Resistance Unit. South Africa did not contribute to the survey.

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WHO: Drug-resistant TB on the increase

March 2007

At the end of 2006, an estimated 39.5 million people were living with HIV and 4.3 million became newly infected with the virus that year. Prevention must be greatly prioritised in the response to AIDS and efforts are being made to find new prevention technologies to bolster the package of already known effective prevention methods. Male circumcision is one of these new potential methods, along with vaginal microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxis with antiretroviral medication, herpes suppressive therapy, cervical barrier methods and HIV vaccines.

A number of observational studies indicate that circumcised men have lower levels of HIV infection than uncircumcised men. On 13 December 2006, the United States of America National Institutes of Health announced that two trials assessing the impact of male circumcision on HIV risk would be stopped on the recommendation of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board. The trials being carried out in Kisumu, Kenya, and Rakai District, Uganda revealed at least a 53% and 51% reduction in risk of acquiring HIV infection, respectively. These results support findings published in 2005 from the South Africa Orange Farm Intervention Trial, sponsored by the French National Agency for Research on AIDS, which demonstrated at least a 60% reduction in HIV infection among men who were circumcised.

WHO and UNAIDS convened an international consultation to review the results of the three randomised controlled trials and other evidence on male circumcision and HIV prevention, to discuss the policy and programme implications, and to make recommendations regarding public health issues. The document summarises the principal conclusions and recommendations of the meeting.

Click here to access the report  on the UNAIDS website:

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Men should be circumcised to protect against HIV - WHO

UNAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic

May 2006

New report cites positive trends in HIV prevention and treatment; calls for significant acceleration of the AIDS response

According to new data in the UNAIDS 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic the AIDS epidemic appears to be slowing down globally, but new infections are continuing to increase in certain regions and countries. The report also shows that important progress has been made in country AIDS responses, including increases in funding and access to treatment, and decreases in HIV prevalence among young people in some countries over the past five years.

Click here to access the report on the UNAIDS website: