mounting toll of AIDS, The

International Family Planning Perspectives, Mar 1999 by Althaus, Frances A

At the end of 1998, an estimated 33.4 million people worldwide were infected with HIV, including those with symptomatic AIDS. According to a report issued by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization, 32.2 million of those infected were adults of reproductive age and 1.2 million were children younger than 15.1 Some 2.5 million adults and children died of AIDS-related causes in 1998, bringing the total since the beginning of the epidemic to almost 13.9 million. Among the regions of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa has been hardest hit, accounting for 83% of all AIDS-related deaths to date. At the end of 1998, an estimated 21.5 million men and women-8% of the region's adult population-were living with HIV In South and Southeast Asia, in contrast, fewer than 1% (6.7 million) of adults of reproductive age were infected. Prevalence was even lower in East Asia and the Pacific (less than 0.1%). In Latin America, an estimated 1.4 million men and women were infected; overall, HIV prevalence among adults in the region was lower than 1%. In the Caribbean, however, approximately 2% of adults (300,000) were infected. Prevalence was low in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (0.14% overall), but has risen rapidly in recent years: Some 270,000 adults were living with HIV at the end of 1998, roughly nine times the number at the beginning of 1995. In developed countries, prevalence was generally low, ranging from 0.1% in Australia and New Zealand, 0.2% in Western Europe and 0.3% in Canada to 0.8% in the United States.

1. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS Epidemic Update: December 1998, Geneva: UNAIDS and WHO, 1998.