AFRO-NETS> Joint UNAIDS/WHO Press Release - AIDS Epidemic Update 2001

["Dr. Brian Pazvakavambwa" <pazvakavambwab@who.ch>]

Joint UNAIDS/WHO Press Release - AIDS Epidemic Update 2001
----------------------------------------------------------

Moscow, 28 November 2001
Joint UNAIDS/WHO Press Release 

AIDS Epidemic Faster in Eastern Europe than in Rest of World: New 
Figures

Report Warns Epidemic Continues in Upswing, Even in High-Income Coun-
tries 

A new report released today, "AIDS Epidemic Update 2001"
http://www.unaids.org/epidemic_update/report_dec01/index.html

says the number of HIV infections in Eastern Europe is rising faster 
than anywhere else in the world. Reported figures are largely under-
estimated but even so, the latest figures reveal there were more than 
75,000 reported new infections in Russia by early November, a 15-fold 
increase in just three years. 

"HIV is spreading rapidly throughout the entire Eastern European re-
gion - a quarter of a million new cases only this year," said Dr Pe-
ter Piot, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on 
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "HIV/AIDS is unequivocally the most devastating 
disease we have ever faced, and it will get worse before it gets bet-
ter." 

According to the report, published by the Joint United Nations Pro-
gramme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), 
there exists a particular opportunity for action in countries where 
either the rate of HIV is low or which have large populations. 

"Low reported national prevalence rates can be misleading," said Dr 
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of WHO, "because they may be 
exceedingly high in certain sub-populations. In many countries, we 
have to take these figures as warning signs of an impending epidemic, 
not as excuses for complacency." In countries with high populations, 
a few percentage points can translate into millions of individuals 
infected. 

Meantime, the epidemic continues its rapid spread throughout Africa, 
with 3.4 million new infections and 2.3 million deaths in 2001. In 
Swaziland, Botswana and some areas of South Africa, more than 30% of 
pregnant women are HIV-positive. In West Africa, several countries 
with previously low infection numbers - including Nigeria, Africa's 
most populous nation - have now passed the 5% infection mark. 

A worrying trend in high-income countries is the increase in unsafe 
sex, which itself has triggered a rise in sexually transmitted dis-
eases, including HIV. There is now evidence that in high-income coun-
tries, HIV is moving into poorer communities and that young adults 
belonging to ethnic minorities face considerably greater risks of in-
fection than they did five years ago.

"Despite advances in treatment and care which have become widely 
available in wealthy countries, prevention is lagging behind," said 
Dr Peter Piot. "While unsafe sex and injecting drug use continue to 
fuel this broadening epidemic, it is at the same time shifting to 
more disadvantaged communities. It is imperative that these communi-
ties get the resources and support needed to take up the prevention 
message." 

In Asia, figures also continue to climb and for the first time, de-
spite effective prevention efforts in some smaller countries, the 
number of newly infected people reached one million. There is a seri-
ous threat of major, generalized epidemics. In some Middle Eastern 
countries as yet virtually untouched by HIV, infection is beginning 
to spread rapidly among high-risk groups. 

As the epidemic spreads, so does its impact on the development of so-
cieties and the well-being of economies. In sub-Saharan Africa, the 
hardest hit countries could lose more than 20% of their GDP by 2020 
because of AIDS. Also severely affected are the education systems, 
civil administrations, health services and farms of many countries. 
Today, life expectancy in the region is dropping - were it not for 
AIDS, life expectancy would be at least 62 years; instead it is 47 
years. 

To help break the speed at which the epidemic is spreading, the re-
port calls on countries to rapidly put in place effective prevention 
programmes, particularly to slow HIV among young people. At the same 
time, the need for expanding access to treatment and care remains 
critical to the success of any efforts to fight AIDS. 

Twenty years into the epidemic, millions of young people still know 
little, if anything, about the epidemic. In some countries, many have 
never even heard of AIDS and those who have hold serious misconcep-
tions about how HIV is transmitted. Any successful AIDS response will 
require providing young people with the information and life skills 
they need in order to prevent infection.

--
For more information, please contact 
Anne Winter, UNAIDS, Moscow
Tel: +41-79-213-4312 (mobile)

Anna Panshina, UNAIDS, Moscow
Tel: +7-095-165-9968
Tel: +7-902-652-6746 (mobile)

Dominique de Santis, UNAIDS, Geneva
Tel: +41-22-791-4509 

Andrew Shih, UNAIDS, New York
Tel: +1-212-584-5012

You may also visit the UNAIDS Home Page on the Internet for more in-
formation about the programme:
http://www.unaids.org

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