Scientific Facts on AIDS

2.2 How has the epidemic evolved in heavily affected regions?
People living with HIV in the sub-Saharan Africa
People living with HIV in the sub-Saharan Africa

Current trends in the HIV/AIDS epidemic vary across different countries and regions:

Note: numbers given in the following regional estimates are based on estimates made in 2005, which were revised in 2007. See the 2007 UNAIDS report for the latest estimates.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by AIDS though there are great variations between countries. In this region, a total of 24.5 million people were living with HIV in 2005 and some 6.1% of adults were carrying the virus.

The situation is particularly serious in Southern African countries where the share of people living with HIV has reached exceptionally high levels but seems to be levelling off in most countries. The AIDS epidemic in South Africa is one of the worst in the world with an estimated total of 5.5 million people living with HIV in 2005 and an increasing share of its adult population being infected (18.8% in 2005 *). In some neighbouring countries, the percentage of the adult population living with HIV is even higher, reaching 33.4% in Swaziland. (2007 UNAIDS update: the epidemic in the South African area now seems to have leveled off, but the region is still the most severly affected.)

On a positive note, the share of people living with HIV is falling in Kenya, Zimbabwe and in urban areas of Burkina Faso, because more people are using condoms, they have fewer sexual partners and are older when they first have sex. In Africa, about one in six people in need of antiretroviral treatment are now receiving it.

The Caribbean is the second-most affected region in the world with some 1.6% of the adult population living with HIV in 2005. AIDS is the leading cause of death among adults, although the infection levels have decreased in urban areas of Haiti and in the Bahamas, and remained stable in neighbouring Dominican Republic and Barbados