June 2011 marked 30 years after AIDS was first discovered as a new disease. Three decades into a very complex epidemic, millions are still living with HIV and AIDS and facing the challenges of the pandemic.

The HIV incidence (number of people newly infected with HIV) appears to have peaked in the mid- 1990s. In 33 countries, the incidence has fallen by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009. Of these countries 22 are in sub-Saharan Africa.

UNAIDS estimates that worldwide there were 33.3 million people living with HIV at the end of 2009 and that the number of annual AIDS-related deaths is steadily decreasing from the peak of 2.1 million in 2004 to an estimated 1.8 million in 2009. The decline reflects the increased availability of antiretroviral therapy, as well as care and support, to people living with HIV, particularly in middle- and low-income countries; it is also a result of decreasing incidence from the late 1990s.

HIV and AIDS in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa still bears an inordinate share of the global HIV burden. In the region, an estimated 1.8 million people became infected in 2009; considerably lower than the 2.2 million people estimated to be infected in 2001. Although the rate of new HIV infections has decreased, the total number of people living with HIV continues to rise. In 2009, that number reached 22.5 million, 68% of the global total. The estimated 1.3 million people who died of HIV related illnesses in subSaharan Africa in 2009 comprised 72% of the global total of 1.8 million deaths attributable to the epidemic.

Globally, 34% of people living with HIV in 2009 resided in the 10 countries in southern Africa; 31% of new HIV infections in the same year occurred in these 10 countries, as did 34% of all AIDS-related deaths.

In Ethiopia, the first case of HIV was reported in 1984. Since then, HIV and AIDS has become a major public health concern in the country. National projections estimate approximately 1.2 million Ethiopians were living with HIV by 2010. Although the epidemic is currently stable, HIV and AIDS remains a major development challenge for the country.

[The latest statistics of the global HIV and AIDS epidemic were published by UNAIDS in November 2010, and refer to the end of 2009]

Resources (References)

• UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic 2010
• AIDS Resource Center: Global Factsheets

Further Information

• Ministry of Health (MoH)
• International AIDS Society (IAS)
• World Health Organization (WHO)