Abstract:
Over the past two decades the human immunodeficiency virus has spread
silently throughout the world profoundly affecting the lives of men and
women, their families, and societies. It has not respected international
boundaries or spared the elite. By the time that researchers understood how
HIV spreads, how it can be prevented, and behaviors that put people at risk,
HIV had already infected millions of adults in the industrial and developing
world. The number of people infected with HIV in the world has already
reached about 55 million of which 22 million have already died. Today, an
estimated 36 million people are living with HIV; about 95% are found in the
developing world and a staggering 70% in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, where
resources to confront the epidemic are most scarce.
