S
Sir Frizz
Guest
If this is old, forgive me.
July 3, 2002 8:30 CDT
Although the XIV International AIDS Conference hasn't started in Barcelona just yet, troubling reports are already being released about the findings that will be announced there once the Conference officially starts in the second week of July. Instead of falling, the number of new AIDS cases continues to grow at an alarming rate. It would appear that far from abating, the AIDS epidemic is simply gathering more steam and devastating more countries with its voracious appetite.
The UNAIDS report is grim. In the 45 most-affected countries, roughly 68 million people are projected to die from AIDS between 2000 and 2020. This represents a five-fold increase in these countries over AIDS deaths in previous 20 years. At present, only a shocking 4 percent of those that need antiretroviral treatment for AIDS has access to the medicine that could save their lives.
"Even if exceptionally effective prevention, treatment and care programs take hold immediately, the scale of the crisis means the human and socio-economic toll will remain significant for generations," the report says.
Far from falling, the numbers of HIV infected patients continues to climb in developing countries-despite the lower number of people who are engaging in high-risk activities. In Zimbabwe, for example, fully one-quarter of the population was HIV-positive in the year 1997. That number had ballooned to one-third by the end of 2001.
The authors estimate that 55 million Africans will die prematurely because of AIDS by 2020. In Botswana, the country with the highest HIV rates in the world, almost 39 per cent of adults are living with HIV, up from 36 per cent two years ago.
They also warn that Asia is facing an "explosive epidemic" of HIV-AIDS that could rival the one devastating Africa. Asian governments and communities "are still not aware of the potential impact and consequences of the epidemic," said Anthony Lisle, head of UNAIDS' Southeast Asia and Pacific team. About one million people in the region were newly infected with the virus in 2001.
For those familiar with the epidemic, it's looking eerily familiar these days: Asia is looking an awful lot like Africa in the beginning of their epidemic. Sandro Calvani summed up the facts, and they are very disturbing: "One million infections means 3000 per day, or 120 per hour," she said grimly.
In China, reported HIV infections rose nearly 70 per cent in just the first six months of 2001. Almost all cases of HIV/AIDS were previously transmitted through injecting drug use and unsafe blood practices. But the epidemic is now surging through heterosexual contact.
July 3, 2002 8:30 CDT
Although the XIV International AIDS Conference hasn't started in Barcelona just yet, troubling reports are already being released about the findings that will be announced there once the Conference officially starts in the second week of July. Instead of falling, the number of new AIDS cases continues to grow at an alarming rate. It would appear that far from abating, the AIDS epidemic is simply gathering more steam and devastating more countries with its voracious appetite.
The UNAIDS report is grim. In the 45 most-affected countries, roughly 68 million people are projected to die from AIDS between 2000 and 2020. This represents a five-fold increase in these countries over AIDS deaths in previous 20 years. At present, only a shocking 4 percent of those that need antiretroviral treatment for AIDS has access to the medicine that could save their lives.
"Even if exceptionally effective prevention, treatment and care programs take hold immediately, the scale of the crisis means the human and socio-economic toll will remain significant for generations," the report says.
Far from falling, the numbers of HIV infected patients continues to climb in developing countries-despite the lower number of people who are engaging in high-risk activities. In Zimbabwe, for example, fully one-quarter of the population was HIV-positive in the year 1997. That number had ballooned to one-third by the end of 2001.
The authors estimate that 55 million Africans will die prematurely because of AIDS by 2020. In Botswana, the country with the highest HIV rates in the world, almost 39 per cent of adults are living with HIV, up from 36 per cent two years ago.
They also warn that Asia is facing an "explosive epidemic" of HIV-AIDS that could rival the one devastating Africa. Asian governments and communities "are still not aware of the potential impact and consequences of the epidemic," said Anthony Lisle, head of UNAIDS' Southeast Asia and Pacific team. About one million people in the region were newly infected with the virus in 2001.
For those familiar with the epidemic, it's looking eerily familiar these days: Asia is looking an awful lot like Africa in the beginning of their epidemic. Sandro Calvani summed up the facts, and they are very disturbing: "One million infections means 3000 per day, or 120 per hour," she said grimly.
In China, reported HIV infections rose nearly 70 per cent in just the first six months of 2001. Almost all cases of HIV/AIDS were previously transmitted through injecting drug use and unsafe blood practices. But the epidemic is now surging through heterosexual contact.
