AIDS infections have gone down by 25% in the past decade

Some heartening news has come out of the United Nations AIDS agency, which is reporting that in the past ten years new HIV infections have dropped by twenty-five percent globally, accompanied by a drop in AIDS-related deaths. Statistics aren't positive across the board, though, and in the past three years, rates of HIV among sex workers have jumped from forty-four to fifty percent. And, while new infections are on a relatively fast decline in sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia, they've actually increased in regions including the Middle East, north Africa, and Eastern Europe. Additionally, rates of new infection rose from thirty to thirty-six percent among gay men.

Sadly but not surprisingly, economic status was a huge determining factor here; as Bill Clinton wrote in the report, "People in rich countries don't die from AIDS any more, but those in poor countries still do — and that's just not acceptable." Looks like we still have quite a way to go on this one.