World AIDS Day falls on December 1st each year, seeking to raise awareness about issues surrounding HIV and AIDS. This year’s theme is zero new transmissions, discrimination and deaths.
Figures from the UN Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS show there is a continuing fall in new HIV infections and deaths related to AIDS around the world. UNAIDS says about 35 million people worldwide were living with HIV infection by the end of 2012.
The UN Children’s Fund says mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus has been dramatically reduced over the last seven years. It estimates that some 850 thousand cases were prevented in low-and middle-income countries. But UNICEF is alarmed about increasing AIDS death rates among adolescents.
The agency’s 2013 Stocktaking Report on Children and AIDS said AIDS-related deaths among those aged 10 to 19 increased between 2005 and 2012 from 71 thousand to 110 thousand.