HIV/AIDS

Running Head : HIV /AIDS

HIV /AIDS

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HIV /AIDS

Overview

Global Prevalence

At the end of 2007 , an estimated 33 .2 million people worldwide - 30 .8 million adults and 2 .5 million children younger than 15 years - were living with HIV (UNAIDS WHO , 2007 . Approximately two thirds of these people (25 .0 million ) live in Sub-Saharan Africa another 20 (7 .4 million ) live in Asia and the Pacific . Worldwide , approximately 11 of every 1000 adults aged 15 to 49 are HIV-infected ( UNAIDS WHO

, 2007 Nearly half of all people worldwide living with HIV /AIDS are women Worldwide more than 20 million people with HIV /AIDS have died since the first AIDS cases were identified in 1981 . In 2003 alone HIV /AIDS-associated illnesses caused the deaths of approximately 2 .9 million people worldwide , including an estimated 490 ,000 children younger than 15 years (National Institutes of Health , 2004

Figure 1 . A Global View on HIV Infection

Source : UNAIDS WHO , 2007

Worldwide , AIDS is destroying the fabric of societies and is a threat to all aspects of sustainable development (Schwartlander , 2000 . For example , in Botswana , the prevalence of HIV is estimated to be about one-third of all adults . In countries where access to life-prolonging drugs is negligible , HIV /AIDS is projected to diminish large populations of young adults (Schwartlander , 2000 . This will undoubtedly have devastating effects on agricultural communities and family populations in specific regions of the world . Accurate documentation of the spread of this disease worldwide has been...