Russian children, who live in a special orphanage for HIV/AIDS infected children look into the camera in St.Petersburg. At least half million Russians will die of AIDS by 2010 given current infection rates and the authorities‘ failure to curb the epidemic, Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of Russia‘s official AIDS centre said. PHOTO – REUTERS

LONDON – It started as a mysterious infection among gay white men but over two decades HIV/AIDS has exploded into the worst epidemic humanity has ever faced and is now afflicting as many women as men. AIDS will have killed 3.1 million people by the end of this year, five million more have been infected with the deadly virus and 42 million people, half of them women, are living with HIV/AIDS, according to the latest figures from UNAIDS, the United Nations agency spearheading the battle against AIDS.

„For me what is most striking is that for the first time women comprise 50 percent of the global epidemic,“ Peter Piot, the head of UNAIDS, said. „In Africa 58 percent of all people living with HIV are women,“ he added in an interview coinciding with the World AIDS Day on December 1. The changing dynamics of HIV/AIDS means more babies could become infected through their mothers and women, who have traditionally been the carers, are being struck down with the illness that has afflicted their husbands, fathers and brothers.

AIDS has killed more than 25 million people worldwide since it was first discovered and it is now contributing to other disasters, particularly in southern Africa which is most affected by the epidemic.

Drought and famines are not new to Africa but in countries where a quarter or a third of the population are ill, it has intensified the problem. The AIDS Epidemic Update: December 2002 shows Africa, with 29.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS, is the worst affected region, Eastern Europe and Central Asia with 1.2 million cases has the fastest growing epidemic but Asia, particularly China and India are the real timebomb. An estimated one million people in China are infected with HIV and unless effective responses take hold, the number could reach 10 million people by the end of this decade. In North America and Western Europe, the introduction of anti-AIDS drugs in 1995/96 lead to a dramatic fall in AIDS deaths but the trend has begun to level off. Researchers are also reporting an increase in unsafe sex and in heterosexual transmission of the virus.

But Piot emphasised that more countries are showing evidence of the number of new infections declining. In South Africa the HIV prevalence rate among pregnant women under 20 years old fell to 15.2 percent in 2001 from 21 percent in 1998. „For the first time in years we have solid evidence that prevention can work even in the poorest countries,“ said Piot. „That is what I would consider the good news part.“ Drug companies have slashed the price of anti-AIDS drugs and countries like Botswana and Nigeria, and some corporations, are rolling out programmes to offer treatment to people with HIV/AIDS. But Piot said only a tiny minority of people, mostly in the developed world, are receiving drugs. „The price reductions are real but even at a dollar a day someone has to pay for it. We are focusing on training of physicians and nurses and finding the money for it. For the poorest countries it will only be possible if money comes from the outside,“ he said. Reuters