New HIV/Aids infections worldwide fall to record low
Play
Berlin - The number of HIV infections worldwide sank to a record low of 2.67 million last year, down 21 per cent on the number in 1997, UNAids said on Monday.
The United Nations released the data in the German capital Berlin during a conference to review the methods being used to check the spread of the virus that causes Aids.
UNAids noted that worldwide nearly half of all pregnant women carrying the virus had received medication to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
The number of new infections among children was down to 390,000, well below the peak of 550,000 in 2001.
UNAids estimates that worldwide 34 million people are either infected with HIV or have full-blown Aids. Some 68 per cent of them live in sub-Saharan Africa.
The cumulative global tally is markedly higher than in 2001, when the world counted 28.6 million infected with HIV.
Last year, 1.8 million people died of Aids. According to UNAids, medical intervention saved 700,000 lives.//DPA
