World AIDS Day is to be observed tomorrow across the globe with some 33 million people living with the virus in 2007, a report of the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) showed.
In its "2008 Report on Global AIDS Epidemic," UNAIDS said the rate of new infections has gone down in several countries but this "favorable" trend has been "partially offset" by increases in new infections in other nations.
"The overall number of people living with HIV has increased as a result of the ongoing number of new infections each year and the beneficial effects of more widely available antiretroviral therapy," UNAIDS said.
Sub-Saharan Africa is still the most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for 67 percent of all HIV cases and for 72 percent of AIDS deaths in 2007.
Infections in most countries there have begun to decline but nations like Kenya had registered a rise in infection from 6.7 percent in 2003 to 8.5 percent in 2007.
The report, however, shows that there are "high infection levels" among "injecting drug users, men who have sex with men and sex workers" in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
To effectively contain HIV/AIDS, the UNAIDS has underscored the need to address "societal causes of HIV risk and vulnerability."
"Long-term success in responding to the epidemic will require sustained progress in reducing human rights violations associated with it, including gender inequality, stigma and discrimination," the report stated.
In the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) had registered a total of 59 new infections in October, bringing to 3,515 the total number of HIV/AIDS cases recorded since January 1984.
A report prepared by the DOH's National Epidemiology Center showed that 13 of the 59 cases were those of overseas Filipino workers who are required to undergo HIV screening by their employer-countries.
"Nine of (the 13 cases) were males. All cases acquired the infection through sexual contacts - 10 heterosexual, one homosexual and two bisexual," the report states.
To strengthen anti-HIV/AIDS efforts in the Asia Pacific, the UNAIDS, Asian Development Bank, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization launched last Friday the first-ever one-stop "online resource hub" that will provide comprehensive and easy to access HIV and AIDS data in the region.
The website, www.aidsdatahub.org and online database: www:devinfo.info/Evidencetoaction, and Aids Statistics carries multiple sources of data and reports, powerpoint presentations and reviews on HIV and AIDS situations in 24 countries and Hong Kong.
Meantime, UNAIDS records showed that 75 million Asian men "buy sex regularly" making them "key drivers" of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia-Pacific.
According to Amala Reddy, UNAIDS regional advisor for Strategic Information, the HIV epidemic in Asia is caused by unprotected paid sex, sexual contact between men and intravenous drug use with shared needles.
Reddy said there are 75 million men who patronize commercial sex from about 10 million Asian women and another 20 million men "who have sex with men or injecting drug users."
But Reddy said the "limiting factor" that makes the Asian HIV epidemic different from that in Africa, which accounts for a majority of HIV/AIDS cases worldwide, is "that (Asian) women generally do not have multiple sex partners." - With Lorraine Olivar