 | AIDS and HIV Infection Information for United Nations Employees and Their Families (UNAIDS, 2000, 49 p.) |
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Chapter 5 - A Global Overview of the Epidemic
By the end of 1998, the number of people living with HIV is estimated to have grown to 33.4 million, according to estimates from UNAIDS and WHO. Most of these people do not know that they are infected. The epidemic has not been overcome anywhere. Virtually every country in the world saw new infections in 1998 and the epidemic is frankly out of control in many places.
More than 95 percent of all HIV-infected people now live in the developing world, which has experienced 95 percent of all deaths to date from AIDS. These deaths are largely among young adults who would normally be in their peak productive and reproductive years. The multiple repercussions of these deaths are reaching crisis level in some parts of the world. Whether measured against the yardstick of deteriorating child survival, crumbling life expectancy, overburdened health care systems, increasing orphanhood, or bottom-line losses to business, AIDS has never posed a bigger threat to development.
According to UNAIDS/WHO estimates, 11 men, women and children around the world were infected per minute during 1998 - close to 6 million people in all. One-tenth of newly-infected people were under age 15, which brings the number of children now alive with HIV to 1.2 million. Most of them are thought to have acquired their infection from their mother before or at birth, or through breastfeeding.
Hot zones of HIV around the world
While mother-to-child transmission can be reduced by providing pregnant HIV-positive women with antiretroviral drugs and alternatives to breastmilk, the ultimate aim must be effective prevention for young women so that they can avoid becoming infected in the first place. Unfortunately, when it comes to HIV infection, women appear to be heading for an unwelcome equality with men. While they accounted for 41 percent of infected adults worldwide in 1997, women now represent 43 percent of all people over age 15 living with HIV and AIDS. There are no indications that this equalizing trend will reverse.
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Region |
Epidemic started |
Adults and children living with HIV/AIDS |
Adults and children newly infected with HIV in 1998 |
Adult prevalence rate1 |
Percentage of HIV-positive adults who are women |
Main mode(s) of transmission for those living with HIV/AIDS2 |
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Sub-Saharan Africa |
late '70s - early '80s |
22.5 million |
4.0 million |
8.0% |
50% |
Hetero |
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North Africa and Middle East |
late '80s |
210,000 |
19,000 |
0.13% |
20% |
IDU, Hetero |
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South and South-east Asia |
late '80s |
6.7 million |
1.2 million |
0.69% |
25% |
Hetero |
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East Asia and Pacific |
late '80s |
560,000 |
200,000 |
0.068% |
15% |
IDU, Hetero, MSM |
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Latin America |
late '70s - early '80s |
1.4 million |
160,000 |
0.57% |
20% |
MSM, IDU, Hetero |
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Caribbean |
late '70s - early '80s |
330,000 |
45,000 |
1.96% |
35% |
Hetero, MSM |
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Eastern Europe and Central Asia |
early '90s |
270,000 |
80,000 |
0.14% |
20% |
IDU, MSM |
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Western Europe |
late '70s - early '80s |
500,000 |
30,000 |
0.25% |
20% |
MSM, IDU |
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North America |
late '70s - early '80s |
890,000 |
44,000 |
0.56% |
20% |
MSM, IDU, Hetero |
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Australia and New Zealand |
late '70s - early '80s |
12,000 |
600 |
0.1% |
5% |
MSM, IDU |
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TOTAL |
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33.4 million |
5.8 million |
1.1% |
43% |
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1 The proportion of adults (15 to 49 years of age) living with HIV/AIDS in 1998, using 1997 population numbers.
2 MSM (sexual transmission among men who have sex with men), IDU (transmission through injecting drug use), Hetero (heterosexual transmission).
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The entire text of the AIDS Epidemic Update, including regional overviews and information on factors fuelling the epidemic today, is available from UNAIDS at http://www.unaids.org |
Since the start of the epidemic around two decades ago, HIV has infected more than 47 million people. And though it is a slow-acting virus that can take a decade or more to cause severe illness and death, HIV has already cost the lives of nearly 14 million adults and children. An estimated 2.5 million of these deaths occurred during 1998, more than ever before in a single year.
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