HIV Digest	HIV Digest Archive

A CDC study released earlier this month said only one in five HIV patients in poor and middle-income countries receives drug therapy, despite a 200 percent rise in the number of patients in treatment between 2003 and 2005.

More people on HIV drugs means a global rise in patients living with HIV and a need to boost measures against HIV transmission. Worldwide, 4.1 million people were newly infected with HIV and 38.6 million were living with HIV/AIDS in 2005.

"Approximately 10 percent of the world population lives in sub-Saharan Africa but the region is home to approximately 64 percent of the world population living with HIV. More women are HIV-infected than men," the report stated.

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ome African countries-- including Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe-- have seen a decline in adult HIV prevalence. Still, in southern Africa, only 17 percent of HIV patients receive treatment.

The report, published in advance of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto, said only 8 percent of HIV-positive mothers receive services such as health education. However, the report cited progress in the drive to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

A separate study by CDC and the Thailand Ministry of Health found an "alarming" 64 percent increase in sex between men in Bangkok between 2003 and 2005 and "low awareness" of HIV status among all men in the study.

from Reuters