Number of AIDS Patients Surpasses 40 Million

Written by Administrator

Wednesday, 30 November 2005

The World Health Organization (WHO) noted that according to a 2005 AIDS report the number of AIDS patients has surpassed 40,000,000 worldwide. Approximately 3.1 million people have died of AIDS this year; the number of HIV infected people in Turkey is more than 2,000. According to the report, the number of infections of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has recently increased among women and children. Children under the age of 15 comprise 2.3 million of AIDS cases, and the number of HIV-infected women is over 17.5 million. Sixty-five percent of the worlds’ AIDS cases are in Africa. The number of ill is about 8.3 million. According to WHO, the number of AIDS patients will exceed 70 million in the next two decades. Ninety-five percent of AIDS patients are in undeveloped and developing countries. Just four percent of those can be treated; the annual cost of medicine for the illness is $12,000 per person. This cost can be reduced to $300 with generic medicines; however, African countries cannot use those medicines because of patent laws. Therefore, millions of AIDS patients are dying in a short time as a result of going without treatment.

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