10 HIV/AIDS Facts
From the UNAIDS/WHO Epidemic Update, December, 2006

Across Sub-Saharan Africa, women are more likely than men to be infected with HIV, and they are more likely to be the ones caring for people infected with HIV.

1. 39.5 million people are living with HIV worldwide in 2006
2. 2.9 million people died of AIDS in 2006
3. Among adults 15 years and older, young people accounted for 40% of new HIV infections in 2006.
4. AIDS deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa represent 72% of global AIDS deaths.
5. Only 23% of people in sub-Saharan Africa in need of antiretroviral therapy are receiving it.
6. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in Zimbabwe is living with HIV; the estimated life expectancy for men is 37 years and 34 years for women.
7. 60% of tuberculosis patients in South Africa are HIV-positive. As one of the major co-infections of HIV, this outbreak underscores the need to rapidly ensure prompt TB diagnosis and effective TB treatment for HIV patients in order to prevent drug resistance from developing and spreading.
8. The only evidence of declining HIV prevalence in southern Africa is in Zimbabwe. This decline has been partly credited to behavioral changes from the mid- to late-1990s.
9. At current levels of HIV prevalence without proper treatment, young persons in Zambia face a 50% life-time risk of dying of AIDS.
10. A recent review of HIV literature failed to find evidence that conflict increases HIV transmission (Spiegel and Harroff-Tavel, 2006).

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