"It's a numbers game"

Every day, nearly 7,500 people become infected with HIV and 5,500 die
from AIDS, mostly due to a lack of HIV prevention and treatment services.

Despite these staggering numbers, some encouraging developments have
sparked small victories in the battle against AIDS.

Thanks to improvements in prevention programmes, the number of people
newly infected with HIV declined from 3 million in 2001 to 2.7 million in
2007.

With the expansion of antiretroviral treatment services, the
number of people who die from AIDS has started to decline, from 2.2
million in 2005 to 2.0 million in 2007.

However, largely because newly infected people survive longer, the number of people living with HIV rose
from an estimated 29.5 million in 2001 to 33 million in 2007. The vast
majority of those living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa.