Microbicides   [mī­`krō­bĭ­sīdz]

 

AIDS statistics as of December 2001:

·         Total number of people living with HIV/AIDS:  40 million

·         Number of women living with HIV/AIDS:  17.6 million

·         Total number of people newly infected with HIV in 2001:  5.3 million

·         Number of women newly infected with HIV in 2001:  2.6 million

·         Total number of AIDS deaths in 2001:  3 million

·         Number of women who died of AIDS in 2001:  1.1 million

 

There were about 14,000 new HIV infections every day in 2001:

·         More than 95% are in developing countries

·         2,000 are in children under 15 years old

·         About 12,000 are in persons aged 15 to 49 years, of whom 50% are women

 

Two decades after the start of the HIV/AIDS pandemic:

·         AIDS kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease

·         Almost 6 out of every 10 new HIV infections occur in women

·         About 5,000 women are infected with HIV every day, almost 90% of them in developing countries

·         Women make up 55% of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, with almost one-quarter of 15 to 19 year-old girls infected

·         2.5 million babies were at risk of HIV infection in 2001 through mother-to-child transmission

·         Over 10 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS

·         In the United States, 23% of all new AIDS cases are in women

 

There are about 340 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) each year worldwide:

·         170 million cases of trichomoniasis

·         89 million cases of chlamydia

·         62 million cases of gonorrhea

·         12 million cases of syphilis

 

Assuming that a microbicide is used by 20% of individuals who can be reached through existing services, and in 50% of sex acts where condoms are not used:

·         A microbicide that is 60% efficacious against both HIV and STIs could avert 2.5 million HIV infections in women, men, and children over three years

·         31% of HIV infections could be averted in East Asia and the Pacific, 35% in South Asia, and 27% in sub-Saharan Africa

 

·         At 30% coverage, 3.7 million infections could be averted over three years

 

Sources:  Mobilization for Microbicides: The Decisive Decade, The Rockefeller Foundation Microbicides Initiative, February, 2002; UN AIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update, December 2001.