11/20/2007
UN to Cut Scope of AIDS Epidemic by 6.3 Million Cases
UNAIDS, the agency of the United Nations which tracks HIV and AIDS worldwide, will issue a report today cutting "the number of people it believes are infected worldwide, to 33.2 million from the 39.5 million it estimated late last year," according to the New York Times:
"The statistical changes reflect more accurate surveys, particularly in India and some populous African countries. Some epidemiologists have criticized for years the way estimates were made, and new surveys of thousands of households in several countries have borne them out...Despite the revised estimates, the epidemic remains one of the great scourges of mankind. This week’s analysis predicts that 2.1 million people died of AIDS in the last year, and 2.5 million were newly infected — or about 6,800 every day."
As medicine improves, the number of people living with HIV is growing, although new infections are dropping and probably peaked around the turn of the millenium, experts say.
Said Daniel Halperin, an expert on H.I.V. infection rates at the Harvard School of Public Health: "...this doesn’t mean the epidemic is going away, everything is fine and now forget about it — not at all. There are still about 10 countries in southern Africa that are real nightmares."
U.N. to Say It Overstated H.I.V. Cases by Millions [nyt]
Posted 8:52 AM EST by Andy Towle in Africa, AIDS/HIV, Health, News | Permalink
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Just a nitpicking thing. Your reporting states "as people live longer due to improved medicine..." Actually, these days people with hiv are living indefinitely, not just "longer" - just like everyone else. As someone living with hiv I don't appreciate the tone of "living longer" as if you know this thing is going to get me eventually. With the outlook these days, as long as I take care of myself and monitor things, there's no indication that I can't live my entire life and die from whatever else was going to get me before hiv entered my life.
The sentence should have read "As medicine improves, the number of people living with hiv is growing..."
I expect more from a gay blog. People LIVING with hiv need all the encouragement they can get - subtle messages make a difference. Please keep that in mind for future posts.
Thanks!
Posted by: Daniel | Nov 20, 2007 9:05:39 AM
Point taken, Daniel. You're absolutely right. That was sloppy. Despite my morning rush, I should have been more thoughtful. Thanks for the correction.
Posted by: andy | Nov 20, 2007 9:31:23 AM
These numbers all seem a bit high in defiance of common sense. We also need to know what the average life expectancy is for infected individuals in southern Africa.
Posted by: anon (gmail.com) | Nov 20, 2007 1:02:37 PM