AIDS & HIV... Maybe Forgotten, Not Gone from the World!

International Statistics

According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), as of December 2003, the following trends of the worldwide pandemic of HIV are evident:

• At the global level, the number of people living with HIV continues to grow - from 35 million in 2001 to 38 million in 2003.
• An estimated 5 million people acquired the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2003, the greatest number in any one year since the beginning of the epidemic.
• In 2003, almost three million were killed by AIDS
• Over 20 million people have died since the first cases of AIDS were identified in 1981.

For the current statistics on the number of reported AIDS cases in North, Central, and South America, please contact the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is the regional office for the Americas of the World Health Organization at 525 23rd Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037, telephone: 202-861-4346.

For more information, please see our HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) article.

Other international web sites include:

• World Health Organization (WHO)
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• San Francisco AIDS FoundationAIDS Education & Research Trust (AVERT)

Source: Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov)

Last Editorial Review: 12/9/2004