India: Most HIV cases

Posted By Carolyn O'Hara Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 7:37 PM Share

The tenth UNAIDS report on the global AIDS epidemic was released today and India has overtaken South Africa in total number of HIV cases. South Africa, with 5.5 million HIV cases, has a much higher prevalence rate among adults (18.8 percent) compared with India's infection rate of just 0.9 percent. But UNAIDS estimates that 5.7 million Indians are infected with HIV, an incredibly troubling statistic given that, with a billion people, even a small statistical increase results in a huge number of new infections. More stats:

1800 children contract HIV every day.
More than 4 million people were infected with HIV in 2005.
25 million people have died from HIV/AIDS in the last quarter century.
On average, only 9% of HIV-positive pregnant women receive retroviral treatment.
On average, only a third of young men -and just one fifth of young women - could correctly identify ways of preventing HIV transmission.
A bright spot: funding for HIV/AIDS is way up, nearly $8.3 billion last year.

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