Andy Coghlan, reporter Despite huge efforts to provide all HIV-
infected people in the world with antiretrovirals, HIV continues
to prove a formidable foe. The problem is that the virus is
spreading faster than access to the drugs. In 2007 there were
2.7 million new infections, bringing the number of people with
HIV to 33 million. Two-thirds of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.
The good news is last year the number of HIV-positive people in
poorer countries who are receiving antiretroviral therapy jumped
by just over 1 million, from 33 per cent to 42 per cent. But the
figures, released yesterday jointly by the World Health
Organization and the United Nations bodies UNAIDS and UNICEF,
also reveal that because of lack of access to testing, less than
40 per cent of people who are infected know they are. This is
the key to tackling the epidemic: once people know they are
carrying the virus, they can avoid passing it on to others
through risky sex. Where treatment is available, they can also
begin to take antiretrovi