Number of new HIV infections falls

World Aids Day Geneva - Deutsche Welle As World Aids Day is marked on December 1, the United Nations says the number of new HIV infections is continuing to fall. In sub-Saharan Africa they dropped by a quarter between 2001 and 2011. Despite the huge success of anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs in cutting the rate of HIV transmission from pregnant women to their unborn babies, and in helping to prolong the lives of HIV sufferers, the disease still claims 1.7 million lives a year across the globe. 79 percent of all people with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. Tim Martineau, the Chief of Staff with UNAIDS in Geneva told Deutsche Welle that “There's been fantastic progress everywhere.” He explained: “What's strongest is the response in a number of eastern and southern African countries where the epidemic is perhaps at its greatest. Malawi has seen a 72 percent change in incidence, Zambia 58 percent, Namibia 68 percent. Ethiopia has seen a 90 percent decline and South Africa, the country with the biggest epidemic in the world, has seen a decline of 41 percent and there's been a rapidly expanding response there with the new commitment in that country.” He elaborated that further progress could be made through measures such as better use of condoms, people having fewer partners, and early testing.