Facts about HIV/AIDS worldwide in 2011

HIV WORLDWIDE

34.2 million people were living with HIV in 2011, more than ever before due to the life-extending benefits of antiretroviral medication.

AIDS DEATHS

1.5 million people died of AIDS last year. The leading cause of death was tuberculosis.

DEATH TRENDS in 2011

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: 1.2 million people died of AIDS-related causes, down from a peak of 1.8 million in 2005.

ASIA: An estimated 330,000 people died of AIDS-related causes, the largest number of deaths outside sub-Saharan Africa. Death trends are relatively stable.

EASTERN EUROPE, CENTRAL ASIA: An estimated 90,000 people died of AIDS-related causes, six times higher than a decade earlier in 2001, when 15,000 died.

MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA: AIDS-related deaths rose to 25,000 last year, up from 14,000 a decade earlier.

LATIN AMERICA: Some 57,000 people died of AIDS-related causes, down from 63,000 a year earlier.

WESTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA: An estimated 29,000 people died of AIDS-related causes.

NEW INFECTIONS

An estimated 2.5 million people worldwide were newly infected with HIV in 2011, down 20 percent from a decade earlier. Among children, there were 330,000 new infections last year, down 24 percent from 2009.

TRENDS IN NEW INFECTIONS

About 1.5 million adults were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2011, fewer than in any year since 1997, when the epidemic reached its height with 2.2 million new infections.

ARV TREATMENT

In 2011, more than eight million people were taking antiretroviral drugs in low- and middle-income countries, or about 54 percent of the 14.8 million people whose immune systems were weakened to the point of needing therapy.

MONEY

Global investments for HIV totaled $16.8 billion in 2011.

US HIV BAN

The last world AIDS conference to take place in the United States was in 1990 in San Francisco. A US ban on travel to the country by people with HIV kept the conference away. The ban was lifted by the US government in 2008 and 2009. But there are still 46 countries or territories that restrict entry for people with HIV.

(c) 2012 AFP