A NEW method of assessing world Aids levels by the United Nations Programme on HIV /Aids (Unaids) has revealed an epidemic "far worse than previously thought," the agency said last week.
Instead of relying on regional estimates, UN experts visited countries individually. They now estimate that some 30 million people have the virus, and there are 16,000 new infections a day - double earlier predictions. In a report to coincide with World Aids Day today, Unaids says that 90 per cent of those infected live in the developing world.
"We are now realising that rates of HIV transmission have been grossly underestimated, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where the bulk of infections have been concentrated to date," says Dr Peter Piot, executive director of Unaids. This year 5.8 million people have contracted HIV - more than half a million of them children.
At current transmission rates, the number of people with HIV and full-blown Aids by the year 2000 will be 40 million.
Some 2.3 million people died of Aids this year, Unaids estimates - a 50 per cent rise on 1996. Nearly half were women, and 460,000 were children under 15. AFP
