Despite recent treatment advances that can extend the lives of sufferers, experts warn that more aggressive international action is required to prevent regional outbreaks of HIV-AIDS in Africa, Eurasia and the Far East from exploding. The World Health Organization says up to 40 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. International health officials say 20 million people have died since the condition was first detected.
- see this article from the BBC
ALSO: A piece titled "Applying Public Health Principles to the HIV Epidemic" published in the New England Journal of Medicine argues that HIV must be treated like any other infectious disease. Commentary
PLUS: A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that despite doubts about the effectiveness of retroviral drugs in a poor population in Haiti, a pilot program was highly successful with survival rates jumping from 30 percent to 90 percent. Article