UN: Number of New HIV, AIDS Cases Drops

New York, NY (AHN) – The United Nations has revealed in its 2009 AIDS update report that the number of HIV and AIDS infection worldwide has decreased 17 percent over the past eight years.

The report also said that in East Asia, the number of cases of the disease went down to 25 percent while five percent wanted news and in Sub-Sajara Africa, 15 percent.

However, the number of people living with HIV remains about the same because more and more people get on treatment and are living longer, according to Karen Stanecki, senior epidemiologist at the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, which co-published the report with the World Health Organization.

The report counted more than 30 million people who are living with HIV globally. Two million people died of AIDS related illness in 2008, it added