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HIV Infections-New High as AIDS Drugs Save Lives
More people than ever are living with the AIDS virus but this is largely due to better access to drugs that keep HIV patients alive and well for many years, the United Nations AIDS program (UNAIDS) said. In its annual report on the pandemic, UNAIDS said the number of people dying of the disease fell to 1.8 million in 2010, down from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s.
UNAIDS director Michel Sidibe said the past 12 months had been a “game-changing year” in the global AIDS fight. About 2.5 million deaths have been averted in poor and middle-income countries since 1995 due to AIDS drugs being introduced and access to them improving, according to UNAIDS. Much of that success has come in the past two years as the numbers of people getting treatment has increased rapidly.
Since the beginning of the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, more than 60 million people have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. HIV can be controlled for many years with cocktails of drugs, but there is as yet no cure. The UNAIDS report said 34 million people around the world had HIV in 2010, up from 33.3 million in 2009. The numbers are still staggering for the infections globally. Medications have been the key to longer life but the infections are still happening without education & protection.
Tom Thayer
Info: http://news.yahoo.com/life-saving-aids-drugs-push-hiv-numbers-high-091410745.html
Tagged AIDS, aids pandemic, AIDS Response Effort Inc, ARE, cocktails of drugs, Global AIDS, Global HIV, HIV, HIV infections, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS, United Nations AIDS program
