Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender Resource Center

HIV/AIDS Resources for World AIDS Day

Links and information compiled for World AIDS Day 2006 by Lauren Beach, an MSU alumnus who was an intern in the World Health Organization's HIV/AIDS program in Geneva during fall 2006.

The international response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic

1. The World Health Organization's HIV Department Webpage: www.who.int/hiv/en
2. "3 by 5" initiative for HIV Treatment: www.who.int/3by5/en
3. The World Bank (on the economic impact of scaling up HIV prevention, treatment, and care): web.worldbank.org
4. UNICEF: www.unicef.org/aids/index.php
5. UNFPA: www.unfpa.org/hiv
6. International Labor Organization: www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids
7. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: www.gatesfoundation.org/GlobalHealth/Pri_Diseases/HIVAIDS
8. Family Health International: www.fhi.org/en/HIVAIDS
9. The Global Fund: www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/aids
10. The William J. Clinton HIV/AIDS Foundation: www.clintonfoundation.org/cf-pgm-hs-ai-home.htm
11. GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit GmbH (German society for technical cooperation): www.gtz.de/en/praxis/900.htm
12. Centers for Disease Control: www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap
13. USAID's HIV webpage: www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids
14. Communities Responding to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: www.coreinitiative.org
15. International AIDS Society: www.iasociety.org
16. Council of Religious AIDS Networks: www.aidsfaith.com
17. Red Campaign: www.joinred.com/pr-links.asp

Information about the HIV epidemic in the U.S.

1. National HIV/AIDS Partnership: www.nhap.org/about/partnership.html
2. Two-page report about U.S. HIV trend from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (PDF): www.kff.org
3. WHO/UNAIDS Epidemiological Data (PDF): data.unaids.org
4. United States WHO-UNAIDS County Data Sheet (see Page 6) (PDF): data.unaids.org

List of statistics for the LBGT Resource Center website

Statistics about the World AIDS epidemic from UNAIDS and WHO sources

• Globally, 39.5 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, 37 million of whom live in developing countries.
• 17.7 million out of the 37.2 million adults infected are women.
• 2.3 million children under the age of 15 are infected, 90% of them from mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
• 4.3 million people became infected with HIV in 2006.
• In the last 25 years, approximately 29 million people have died from AIDS, 2.9 million in 2006 alone.
• 63% of all HIV infected people live in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Marriage is the highest risk factor for HIV infection for women in several Latin American countries, India, and most of Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Globally, 1.7 million people out of the 6.4 million who need it are on treatment.
• The greatest disparity for HIV treatment between developed and developing countries is found in infants: In developed countries, proven interventions to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV including the use of anti-retroviral drugs, safer delivery practices, and avoidance of breastfeeding have reduced the transmission rate to 2 to 3 percent. In many developing countries, where too often no interventions are available, the transmission rate ranges between 30 to 40 percent, resulting in 8,000 infant and child HIV infections per day.
• Oftentimes, prevention and treatment programs targeting those most at risk for HIV are the most underfunded.

Routes of transmission

• Worldwide, heterosexual transmission of HIV is the main driving force of the epidemic.

Main HIV Transmission Routes by Region:

• In Sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is primarily spread by unprotected heterosexual contact, though mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT) is also an important factor.
• In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, HIV is primarily spread by the use of non-sterile injecting equipment during injecting drug use.
• In Latin America, HIV is spread primarily by unprotected homosexual contact, unprotected paid sex, and the use of non-sterile injecting equipment during injecting drug use.
• In South and Southeast Asia, HIV is spread mainly from unprotected paid sex and the use of non-sterile injecting equipment during intravenous drug use.
• In the Caribbean, HIV is spread primarily by unprotected heterosexual contact.
• In North America and Western and Central Europe, HIV is spread primarily by unprotected homosexual and heterosexual contact, though the use of non-sterile injecting equipment during injecting drug use is also a growing contributing factor.
• In Oceania, HIV is primarily spread by unprotected heterosexual contact.
• In Northern Africa and the Middle East, HIV is primarily spread through the use of non-sterile injecting equipment during intravenous drug use.

Maps detailing the worldwide numbers of people infected by HIV by region, from the 2006 UNAIDS Epidemiology Report (PDF): data.unaids.org

The difference between a generalized and a concentrated HIV epidemic

The WHO and UNAIDS define a "generalized HIV epidemic" as a situation where prevalence exceeds more than 1% of pregnant women, who are seen to be a representative indicator for the general population, test positive for HIV. The HIV epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa is a generalized epidemic.

A concentrated epidemic exists when prevalence exceeds 1% in one or more "high risk" groups, such as men who have sex with men (MSM), intravenous drug users (IDU) and their sexual partners, commercial sex workers (CSW) and their clients, and prisoners. The HIV epidemic in the United States is a concentrated epidemic.