More people around the world have the HIV virus than ever before, according to a report by UNAIDS, the United Nation's program on HIV/AIDS.
The report says five million people became infected with the virus last year, and more people died from it than in any other year.
The estimated number of people living with the virus reached its highest level ever of 40.3-million. That compares to 37.5-million in 2003.
"The reality is that the AIDS epidemic continues to outstrip global and national efforts to contain it," Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS executive director, said in a speech in New Delhi, India.
"It is clear that a rapid increase in the scale and scope of HIV prevention programmes is urgently needed.
"We must move from small projects with short-term horizons to long-term, comprehensive strategies."
Of the more than three-million people who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2005, the report said more than half a million were children.
Since 1981, more than 25 million people have died of AIDS.
UNAIDS says many of the people with the HIV virus in the developing world are dying because they don't have access to anti-retroviral therapy.
Improvements seen in some countries
But, there are some positive signs. In several countries, the number of new infections is dropping.
"This news is especially encouraging because these countries are of the regions most severely affected by AIDS – sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean," Piot said.
In years past, improvements have been seen in such countries as Senegal, Uganda, and Thailand, and they were considered rare exceptions.
But, UNAIDS has started to notice a decline in infection rates in Kenya, Zimbabwe, and several Caribbean countries.
In the Caribbean, infection rates are dropping in Bermuda, Barbados, and the Bahamas.
Zimbabwe is the first place in the southern part of Africa, and the hardest hit area of the world, to show an improvement. The prevalence of the virus among pregnant women living the country's capital, Harare, has slipped to 21 per cent in 2004 from 35 per cent in 1999.
"I absolutely believe we are on a roll," the World Health Organization's Dr. Jim Kim told the Associated Press.
Some behaviour patterns are changing
"Everyone is sort of jumping on the bandwagon. I think there's been a fundamental change, even in the past one year, in all the efforts in HIV."
Countries which have seen a drop in infection rates have made large investments in campaigns to promote safe-sex and prevention. Such programs have led to a drop in HIV rates among young people.
"People are starting later with their first sexual intercourse, they are having fewer partners, there's more condom use," Piot said.
The UN also noted a drop in infection rates in parts of East Africa, but the findings weren't strong enough to include in the report.
The biggest drops in infection rates have been seen in urban parts of Kenya. In some parts of that country, the number of pregnant women with HIV infections dropped from 28 per cent of the population in 1999 to nine per cent in 2003.
"The fastest growth is in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, in the countries of the former Soviet Union where the number of people living with HIV has increased twenty fold in less than ten years," said Piot.
Five years ago, one in 10 new infections were seen in Asia. The number has grown to one in four or five today. Commercial sex and intravenous drug use are driving increased rates of the virus in that part of the world.
More money needed
Globally, $8-billion has been spent on tackling HIV this year. That's $2-million more than last year, but still short of what's needed.
UNAIDS estimates that $9-billion will be spent on battling the virus next year, but $15-billion is really what's required.
Less than one in five people around the world who are at risk of becoming infected have access to basic prevention services.
Of those living with HIV, only one in ten has been tested and knows that he or she is infected.
About one million HIV patients in the developing world are on treatment, which is just a small fraction of those who need it.
But, the fact that treatments are available is giving people a reason to get tested for the virus, and if people know they have it they can take steps to prevent spreading it to others.
The report says about 300,000 deaths were avoided last year because of the availability of treatments.
In 2002, it was estimated that 56,000 people in Canada were infected with HIV, according to the Public Health Agency. Of these cases, approximately 17,000 or 30 per cent were not aware of their infections.
