The need for action is clear: 

§    Cumulatively, more than 56 million people have been infected with HIV.

§    Some 22 million have died of AIDS, at least 4.3 million of them children.

§    In 2000, 5.3 million new infections occurred around the world.

§    Some 3 million people died of AIDS last year.

§    Each month, another 440,000 people are infected.

§    Almost 1.5 million children under 15 are currently infected.

§    More than 25.3 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa are infected.

§    In South and South-East Asia, almost 6 million carry the HIV virus, while in East Asia and the Pacific, another 640,000 are HIV-positive.

§    Almost 1.8 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are infected.

§    In Central Europe and Asia, the epidemic is younger, yet 700,000 people already carry the virus.

§    In Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, almost 1.5 million are living with HIV, whereas 400,000 are infected in North Africa and the Middle East.