AIDS can dent GDP in badly hit nations, U.N. says+.GENEVA, Nov. 28 Kyodo The AIDS epidemic in the worst-hit countries in the world could dent their economic growth by up to 2 percentage points a year if the number of HIV-infected people top 20% of the population, the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. The estimate is contained in a report compiled by the WHO and the Joint U.N. Program on AIDS (UNAIDS UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS ) being issued ahead of World AIDS Day World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, with an estimated 38. on Dec. 1. The report underlines the economic fallout of the AIDS epidemic by citing a study in South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. , where the HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. infection rate has already exceeded 20% of the country's population. South Africa, which accounts for 40% of sub-Saharan Africa's economic output, is likely to see 17 percentage points, or US$22 billion, knocked from its economic growth between 2000 and 2010 as a result of AIDS, the report said. The report estimates the number of people living with HIV or AIDS at the end of 2000 at 36.1 million worldwide, up two million from last year and more than 50% higher than U.N. agencies projected in 1991. The number of AIDS-related deaths worldwide is projected to top three million this year, 400,0000 more than the record 2.6 million deaths reported in 1999. AIDS has killed 21.8 million people since the syndrome first surfaced in the 1970s, the report said. The hardest hit region is sub-Saharan Africa with 25.3 million adults and children infected with HIV, including 5.3 million new infections this year. South Asia This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. For geophysical treatments, see Indian subcontinent. South Asia, also known as Southern Asia has around 5.8 million infections, Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. 1.4 million, and East Asia East Asia A region of Asia coextensive with the Far East. East Asian adj. & n. and the Pacific region 640,000. In Asia, most infections are concentrated in a few large countries of South and Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. , according to the report. Illicit drug illicit drug Street drug, see there use, a growing sex industry, and large population movements are some of the reasons cited for the spread of HIV in Asia. The AIDS picture is changing in China as the country is experiencing a large internal migration, with ''around 100 million people on the move,'' the report says. In addition, having ''practically eradicated sexually transmitted infections'' by the end of the 1960s, China is now seeing a ''steep rise'' in these rates, which could translate into HIV down the road, it says. The WHO and UNAIDS caution about the risk of complacency, warning that a decline in the use of condoms could result in an increase in HIV infections. More money needs to be channeled into preventive education and awareness campaigns in both Africa and Asia to contain the number of infected cases, the report said. The WHO and UNAIDS have adopted the slogan, ''Men make a difference,'' as the theme for this year's global AIDS campaign on World AIDS Day. ''Men's behavior can make a big difference when it comes to curbing HIV transmission, caring for infected family members and looking after orphans and survivors of the epidemic,'' the report says. In all parts of the world except for sub-Saharan Africa, there are more men than women infected with HIV and dying of AIDS, it says. |
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