Health

HIV Infections Dropped 25 Percent

But gains unevenly distributed.

The last decade has seen a nearly 25 percent drop in new HIV infections and a reduction in AIDS-related deaths, according to the United Nations AIDS agency. But the agency points out that the gains are unevenly distributed. New infections declined faster than the average in sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia, but increased in the Middle East, north Africa, and Eastern Europe. Between 2008 and 2010, HIV among sex workers has gone from 44 percent to 50 percent, and among gay men it rose from 30 percent to 36 percent. Advances in treatment resulted in fewer AIDS-related deaths, but these gains especially fell along economic lines. Former President Bill Clinton wrote in the report, which is being issued on the 30th anniversary of the CDC's first report on the HIV epidemic, that "People in rich countries don't die from AIDS any more, but those in poor countries still do—and that's just not acceptable."