World AIDS Day

UNAIDS released its annual AIDS Epidemic Update for World AIDS Day, Dec. 1.

Currently, an estimated 36 million people are living worldwide with HIV or AIDS.

This year, there were 5.3 million new HIV infections worldwide -- the equivalent of ten new infections, every minute of every day.

The theme of this year’s World AIDS campaign is that "Men Make A Difference" in stemming the spread of the disease. Altogether, an estimated 2.5 million men aged 15-49 became infected during 2000, bringing the number of adult males living with HIV or AIDS at year’s end to 18.2 million.

The report notes that for the first time, there are signs that HIV incidence -- the annual number of new infections -- may have stabilized in sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the greatest number afflicted with AIDS. New infections there in 2000 were estimated at 3.8 million, down from 4.0 million in 1999. However, if HIV infections start to explode in countries that have had relatively low rates up to now, such as Nigeria, regional incidence could start rising again.

Out of the 25.3 million people living with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 55% of the infected adult population are women.

For more information:

• The World AIDS Day press kit from UNAIDS is available online at AIDS: Men Make a Difference.
• Review AIDS: All Men -- Make a Difference!, a resource Booklet from The Body.
• Read personal testimony in UNICEF's
A Chorus Against AIDS.
• Understand more about Which Contraceptives Reduce The Risk of Both Pregnancy and HIV Infection? from Family Health International.
• Read Horizons Research Updates, two-page briefs from the Horizons Project of the Population Council.

Also see Mediachannel.org's special report on how the media have covered the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

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