The number of AIDS-related deaths has declined by over 10% over the past five years as more people gained access to life-saving treatment
That figure is up from 33 million in 2007. However, the report said more people were living longer due to the availability of HIV drugs.
“The number of AIDS-related deaths has declined by over 10% over the past five years as more people gained access to life-saving treatment,” it added.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where the scourge of AIDS is most keenly felt, there were 400000 fewer infections in 2008, or down 15% compared to 2001.
New HIV infections declined by nearly 25% in East Asia and 10% in south and southeast Asia within the same time frame.
UNAids executive director Michel Sidibe said the declines were due partly to HIV prevention programmes but he said more needed to be done.
“The findings also show that prevention programming is often off the mark and that if we do a better job of getting resources and programmes to where they will make most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved,” he said.
The data were contained in the 2009 Aids epidemic update, which revealed that HIV played a significant factor in deaths to women during childbirth.
Using South African data, about 50,000 maternal deaths were associated with HIV in 2008.
“Aids isolation must end ... half of all maternal deaths in Botswana and South Africa are due to HIV,” said Sidibe.
The report said the face of the Aids epidemic was changing and that prevention efforts were not keeping pace with the shift.
HIV transmission in Asia in the past was mainly through prostitution and injecting drug use, but now, it is increasingly affecting heterosexual couples.
While it was confined mainly to injecting drug users in the past in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the disease is now spreading to sex partners of people who inject drugs.
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