UN: HIV Rates On Decline

A young AIDS patient at a health-care clinic on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda.

In the course of the past dozen years, the rate of HIV infections has fallen dramatically, according to a new report from the United Nations out today. Since 2001, the number of cases has gone down by 33 percent overall— and 52 percent among children, according to the UNAIDS report released yesterday.  

While the number of people living with HIV continues to increase, reaching more than 35 million people last year, the number of new cases has actually fallen, according to the report which also detailed how sub-Saharan Africa remains the most hard-hit by HIV/AIDS, especially when it comes to children and the disease. Last year, about 230,000 children died from AIDS-related issues in sub-Saharan Africa compared to fewer than 200 children in North America.

The executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, vowed to provide HIV treatment to 15 million people by 2015, insisting that nobody would be “left behind.”

I wonder what the stats are in Nigeria. Ideas anyone?