For the first time in 20 years, the AIDS epidemic appears to be stabilized according to a new United Nations report released Tuesday.
Significant government investments into AIDS treatment and prevention have resulted in fewer people dying of the fatal virus, the report says. It also notes that more patients are on HIV medication.
However, the report warns that continued investment into AIDS research is vital as patients of the disease are now living longer.
"We've achieved more in the past five years than in the previous 20 years," said Peter Piot, the UNAIDS agency's executive director. "But if we relax now, it would be disastrous. It would wipe out all of our previous investments."
About two million people died from AIDS in 2007, down from approximately 2.2 million in 2005, according to officials.
The number of people with AIDS around the world is estimated to be about 33 million. The previous estimate was 40 million, but that number was revisited because of changes in how the agency counts cases.
The report is based on data from 147 countries.
About 67 per cent of people living in sub-Saharan African countries, such as South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland, are infected with HIV. About 72 per cent of all AIDS deaths occur in the region.
While there's been an overall decline in HIV cases, some countries have noticed a disturbing trend.
China, Germany, Indonesia, Russia and Britain have all seen a rise in the number of HIV cases in their countries.
Millions of new cases are reported each year, according to the report, which was released in advance of the international AIDS conference in Mexico City next week. However, the number of new infections around the world reported in 2007 was about 2.7 million. In the early 2000s, the agency recorded about five million new cases.
The UN AIDS agency says the people who are most at risk of contracting the disease outside of Africa are gay men, sex workers and drug users.
Treatment
Public and private social programs have made AIDS medication cheaper and therefore more accessible to the public, accounting for a significant jump in the number of people taking the drugs.
In the last six years, the number of people on AIDS medication jumped by 10 times, from 300,000 in 2003 to about three million in 2007.
Still, millions of people are without the medication they need. Patients are dependent on the drugs to stay alive.
"The objective of AIDS programs is to provide access to medication to everyone who needs it," said James Chin, a clinical professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. "Until that's accomplished, this won't go away."
It's difficult to predict whether the AIDS epidemic might see another peak, the report says.
"I'm not sure we will ever get to a point where we can say this is not a public health problem," Chin said.
Selina Lo, the medical co-ordinator with Doctors Without Borders, said the declining numbers are still "dismally disappointing." She called for new strategies to tackle the global outbreak.
With files from The Canadian Press
