HIV/AIDS: facts and figures
According to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics from the XIV International Conference on AIDS held in July 2002:
- 40 million adults and children were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2001;
- the majority of these live in the developing world;
- in sub-Saharan Africa 28.5 million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS;
- in South and South-East Asia 5.6 million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS;
- 5 million people globally were newly infected with HIV in 2001.
In the developed world HIV/AIDS was once regarded as a disease affecting mainly intravenous drug users and male homosexuals, however, recent UK figures suggest that sex between men and women has now overtaken sex between men as the most common probable route of HIV infection — accounting for half of all new cases.
The best protection against this lethal virus is to avoid the use of intravenous drugs and to always practise safe sex, especially when travelling overseas or with a new partner.
Last Reviewed: 11 September 2002
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