AIDS and Disease

There are three main approaches that are currently used to prevent HIV infection:

• Sexual health education. Education is often targeted at children under 14 years as they are least likely to be infected with HIV. It can protect by promoting healthy lifestyles and avoidance of risky behaviours. Continued education of the 15-24 age group who are at higher risk and account for an estimated 60% of all new HIV infections, can also reduce infection rates.

• Condoms use. Condoms reduce the risk of HIV infection by 85-90% when used properly. Condom use is proven to be a highly effective way of tackling HIV in many developing countries where the vast majority of HIV infections are sexually transmitted. But to be effective, condoms need to be accessible and affordable; their use is not always easy for women to negotiate and may not be culturally acceptable.

• Treatment to reduce HIV transmission. People with existing sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are at greater risk of acquiring HIV and of transmitting the virus to others. Early detection and treatment of STIs has been shown to be effective in reducing HIV rates. Also, pregnant women with HIV are at risk of passing the infection on to their baby. Mother to child transmission can be greatly reduced by treating the mother with anti-HIV drugs, through safer delivery practices, infant-feeding counselling and support.

Many poor countries are ignorant to infection and have not been educated on the issue. Also, they do not have access to resources to help in AIDS prevention, therefore they have no way of protecting themselves during intercourse - this leads to further transmission of the disease.

Breakdown of HIV/AIDS figures, 2002

Region	Number living with HIV/AIDS	Number newly infected with HIV (2002)	Main mode(s) transmission1
Sub Saharan Africa	28.4M	3,500,000	Hetero
N Africa & Middle East	0.55M	83,000	Hetero, IDU
S and SE Asia	6M	700,000	Hetero, IDU
E Asia & Pacific	1.2M	270,000	IDU, Hetero, MSM
Latin America	1.5M	150,000	MSM, IDU, Hetero
Caribbean	0.44M	60,000	Hetero, MSM
E Europe & Central Asia	1.2M	250,000	IDU
W Europe	0.57M	30,000	MSM, IDU
N America	0.98M	45,000	MSM, IDU, Hetero
Australia & New Zealand	0.015M	500	MSM
Total	42M	5,000,000

1 Hetero, heterosexual sex; IDU intravenous drug user; MSM men having sex with men.

Source: UN/WHO regional estimates, December 2002

Bodies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) deliver a range of education, prevention and treatment initiatives, but the epidemic continues to grow.