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Nearly one in three people with HIV do not know: EU

Caribbean sees drop in HIV, AIDS cases
The number of people with HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean is on the decline, but more must be done to contain the disease, a senior official said Monday, on the eve of a regional meeting on the ailment. The ninth annual general meeting of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) is to be held on the island of Grenada from October 28 to 30. The Guyana-based PANCAP unit of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) headquarters said the region recorded 17,000 new infections last year compared to 20,000 the previous year. PANCAP also said there were 11,000 deaths compared to 14,000 during the same period in 2008. "The figures are still very high for such a small region," said PANCAP director Carl Browne, comparing the Caribbean on a per capita basis to sub-Saharan Africa. Latest statistics show that 230,000 people in the Caribbean and 22 million in Africa live with HIV and AIDS. And the prevalence rate among adults in sub-Saharan Africa is five percent compared to 1.1 percent in the Caribbean. Authorities say the decline in new infections is due to massive public education and increased condom-use, while the reduced number of deaths is a result of better access to care and treatment. The estimated 150 participants at the PANCAP general meeting are the discuss the latest advancements in developing an HIV vaccine that has shown a 31 percent rate of success.
by Staff Writers
 Brussels (AFP) Oct 26, 2009
 Almost one in three people infected with the virus that causes AIDS do not know they have the disease, increasing the risk of infection, the European Commission warned Monday.

In a document on combatting AIDS more than a quarter century after it surfaced, the EU's executive arm said now was not the time for Europe to drop its guard, noting that the figure was up to double in some neighbour nations.

And while efficient treatments exist to slow the evolution of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), no vaccine or cure has been found.

"We need to continue the political momentum in the fight against HIV/AIDS," EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said in a statement.

"We need to encourage people to take responsibility for themselves and their partners by talking about and practicing safe sex and going for HIV testing," she said.

According to commission figures, the number of people living with HIV or AIDS in the 27 EU countries and its neighbours rose from 1.5 million in 2001 to 2.2 million in 2007, around 730,000 of whom live in the bloc.

Some 50,000 new cases of HIV were diagnosed in the EU and its neighbours in 2007.

The percentage of adults, ranging in age from 15 to 49, infected with HIV vary widely, from less than 0.1 percent in some countries to more than 1.0 percent in others.

France, Italy, Spain and Portugal have relatively high infection rates -- ranging from 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent -- but the number roughly triples in Estonia, which has a rate of 1.3 percent.

In Russia, around 1.1 percent of the population is HIV positive, while the figure climbs to 1.6 percent in Ukraine.

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