Changes in the HIV epidemic
The growth and development of the Alliance since it was founded in 1993 has not taken place in a vacuum. In that time, HIV infections have risen by 400 per cent and, despite the best efforts of many, rates of infection are still on the rise. Young people (15-24 year-olds) account for nearly half of all new HIV infections.
Today, fewer than one in five people worldwide has access to HIV prevention services, only one in nine has access to voluntary counselling and testing, and in developing countries only 7 per cent of those who need it have access to anti-retroviral treatment. Over 20 million have died from AIDS since the first cases were identified in 1981 – almost 3 million in 2003 alone. AIDS has killed one or both parents of an estimated 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa, and many of these orphans are not properly cared for. Our vision of a world where people do not die of AIDS remains a distant one.
