Abstract

PIP: According to the 1997 United Nations World AIDS Day Report, over 30 million adults and children worldwide are HIV-infected and, if current transmission rates remain constant, 40 million people will be infected by the year 2000. In 1997, an estimated 5.8 million people became HIV-infected and 2.3 million died of AIDS-related infections. Nearly half of these deaths were in women and 460,000 were in children under 15 years. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the epidemic is progressing most rapidly, 7.4% of the population aged 15-49 years is HIV-positive. Unprotected sex accounted for most of the 3.4 million new HIV infections among adults in sub-Saharan Africa in 1997. In Asia, the epidemic is more diverse, both in terms of intercountry variation and modes of transmission. In the developed world, newly available antiretroviral drugs are reducing the speed at which HIV-infected people develop AIDS. Of particular concern is the impact of HIV/AIDS on reversing gains in life expectancy and child survival in developing countries. Moreover, an estimated 9 out of 10 HIV-positive people worldwide are not aware they are infected. The future course of the epidemic depends in large part on expanded access to information about how HIV is transmitted and how to avoid infection.