Adults & Children estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS, end 2002

Estimated Adult and Children Deaths sue to HIV/AIDS during 2002

North America

15,000

Caribbean

42,000

Latin America

60,000

Western Europe

8,000

North Africa & Middle East

37,000

Sub Saharan Africa

2,400,00

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

25,000

East Asia & Pacific

45,000

South & South-East Asia

440,000

Australia & New Zealand

under 100

Total

3.1 Million

Estimated number of adults and children newly infected with HIV during 2002

North America

45,000

Caribbean

60,000

Latin America

150,000

Western Europe

30,000

North Africa & Middle East

83,000

Sub Saharan Africa

3,500,000

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

250,000

East Asia & Pacific

270,000

South & South-East Asia

700,000

Australia & New Zealand

500

Total

5 Million

HIV/AIDS WORLDWIDE

• As of the end of 2002, an estimated 42 million people worldwide – 38.6 million adults and 3.2 million children younger than 15 years – were living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately 70 percent of these people (29.4 million) live in Sub-Saharan Africa; another 17 percent (7.2 million) live in  Asia.
  
   
• Worldwide, approximately 12 of every 1000 adults aged 15 to 49 is HIV-infected. In Sub-Saharan Africa, about 9 percent of all adults in this age group are HIV-infected. In 4African countries, the prevalence of HIV infection among adults aged 15 to 49 exceeds 30 percent.
  
   
• Approximately 50 percent of adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are women.
  
   
• An estimated 5 million new HIV infections occurred worldwide during 2002; that is, about 14,000 infections each day. More than 95 percent of these new infections occurred in developing countries.
  
   
• In 2002, approximately 6,000 young people aged 15 to 24 became infected with HIV every day – that is, about five every minute.
  
   
• In 2002 alone, HIV/AIDS-associated illnesses caused the deaths of approximately 3.1 million people worldwide, including an estimated 610,000 children younger than 15 years.
   
• Worldwide, more than 80 percent of all adult HIV infections have resulted from heterosexual intercourse.
   

HIV/AIDS IN THE UNITED STATES

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that 850,000 to 950,000 U.S. residents are living with HIV infection, one-quarter of whom are unaware of their infection.
  
   
• Approximately 40,000 new HIV infections occur each year in the United States, about 70 percent among men and 30 percent among women. Of these newly infected people, half are younger than 25 years of age.
   
• Of new infections among men in the United States, CDC estimates that approximately 60 percent of men were infected through homosexual sex, 25 percent through injection drug use, and 15 percent through heterosexual sex. Of newly infected men, approximately 50 percent are black, 30 percent are white, 20 percent are Hispanic, and a small percentage are members of other racial/ethnic groups.
  
   
• Of new infections among women in the United States, CDC estimates that approximately 75 percent of women were infected through heterosexual sex and 25 percent through injection drug use. Of newly infected women, approximately 64 percent are black, 18 percent are white, 18 percent are Hispanic, and a small percentage are members of other racial/ethnic groups.
  
   
• In the United States, 816,149 cases of AIDS had been reported to the CDC through December, 2001.
  
   
• The estimated number of new adult/adolescent AIDS cases diagnosed in the United States was 49,407 in 1997, 42,508 in 1998, 40,671 in 1999, and 40,106 in 2000, 43,158 in 2001.
   

Global Overview

According to estimates from UNIAIDS (United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) & WHO (World Health Origination), 36.2 million children & 38.6 Million adults were living with HIV at the end of 2002. This is more than 50% higher that the figures projected by WHO in 1991 on the basic of the data then available.

During the year 2002, some 5 million people became infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) which causes AIDS.     3.1 Million deaths from HIV/AIDS occurred, a higher global total in any year since the beginning of the epidemic, despite antiretroviral drugs which reduced AIDS and AIDS deaths in high income countries.
 

Deaths among those already infected will continue to increase for some years to come even if prevention manage to cut the number of new infections to zero. However, with the HIV- Positive population still increasing, the annual number of AIDS deaths can be expected to also increase for many years to come.
 

About half of all children and young people who acquire HIV become infected before they turn 25 and typically die of the life threatening illness called AIDS before they turn 35. This Age factor makes AIDS uniquely threatening to children. By the end of 2001, the epidemic had left behind a cumulative total of 14 million AIDS orphans (those having lost one or both parents to AIDS before reaching the age of 15).
 

In 2002, an estimated 800,000 children aged 14 or younger became infected with HIV. Over 90% were babies born to HIV-Positive women who acquired the virus at birth or through their mothers breast milk. Of these, almost nine tenths were in Sub-Saharan-Africa.

In all parts of the world except Sub-Sahara-Africa, North Africa, and the Middle East, there are more men infected with HIV and dying of AIDS than women. Altogether, an estimated 2.2 million men aged 15-49 became infected during 2002, bringing the number of adult males living with HIV or AIDS by the end of the year to 19.4 million.

Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Eastern Europe and Central Asia still has the worlds fastest growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. In 2002, there were an estimated 250,000 new infections bringing the total to 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS.
 

In the Russian Federation, the total number of reported HIV infections climbed to over 200,000 by mid 2002 ( A huge increase over the 10,993 reported at the end of 1998.

Asia & the Pacific

Almost 1 million people in Asia and the Pacific acquired HIV in 2002, bringing to an estimated 7.2 million people now living with the virus (a 10% increase since 2001).  A further 490,000 people are estimated to have died of AIDS in the past year. About 2.1 million young people (aged 15-24) are living with HIV.

The Epidemic in China shows no signs of slowing down. Official estimates put the number of people living with HIV in china at about 1 million in 2002. Unless effective responses rapidly take hold, a total of 10 million people are estimated to acquire HIV by the end of this decade.

The number of new HIV infections in china rose 17% in the first six months of the year 2002.

Several HIV epidemics are being observed among certain population groups in various parts of this vast country. Serious localized HIV epidemics are occurring among injecting drug users in 9 provinces, as well as in  Beijing Municipality.

Sub-Saharan Africa

By far the worst affected region, Sub-Saharan Africa has 29.4 Million people living with HIV/AIDS. Approximately 3.5 million new infections occurred in 2002, while the epidemic claimed the lives of 2.4 million people in the past year. 10 million young people (aged 15-24) and almost 3 million children under 15 are living with HIV.

The number of people who became infected during the year was slightly less the 3.8 million people in the year 2000. This trend will not continue if countries such as Nigeria begin to experience a rapid expansion in new cases.

It is estimated that between 12-13 women are currently infected for every 10 men.

The Middle East & North Africa

Limited available data point to increasing HIV infection rates with an estimated 83,000 people having acquired the virus in 2002.   It is estimated that 550,000 people are living with HIV/AIDS. 37,000 people died in 2002.

Systematic surveillance remains inadequate, making it very difficult to deduce accurate trends.  It is possible that hidden epidemics could be spreading in this region. Better surveillance systems ( such as those introduced in Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) will enable more countries to accurately track the development of the epidemic and mount effective responses.

Significant outbreaks of HIV infections among injecting drug users have occurred in about half the countries in this region, notably in North Africa, and in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In Iran, Most HIV transmission is occurring among the countries estimated 200,000-300,000 injecting drug users (about 1% of whom are believed to be living with HIV).  High risk behavior is widespread in this largely male population (about half the users share injecting equipment, and as many are believed to have extramarital sexual relations) . Condom use is very rare.

High Income Countries

( Resurgent Epidemic Threatens )

Approximately 76,000 people became infected with HIV in high income countries in 2002. A total of about 1.6 million people are now living with the virus in these countries, where an estimated 23,000 people died of AIDS in 2002.

A larger proportion of new HIV diagnosis in several western European countries is occurring through heterosexual intercourse. More than half of the 4,279 new HIV infections in the United Kingdom in 2001 resulted from heterosexual sex compared to 33% of new infections in 1998.

During 2002, 30,000 adults and children are estimated to have acquired HIV in Western Europe, 45,000 in North America and 500 in Australia and New Zealand. Overall HIV Prevalence has slightly risen in both regions.

Latin American and Caribbean

( Diverse Epidemics )

The epidemics in Latin America and the Caribbean are well established. There is a danger that they could spread both more quickly and more widely in the absence of

strengthened responses. An estimated 1.9 million adults and children are living with HIV in this region. 210,000 people who acquired the virus in 2002.