World AIDS Day 2003 Fact Sheet

World AIDS Day 2003 is December 1.

HIV/AIDS is a worldwide public health threat. More than 42 million people are infected with HIV, with 5 million new cases in 2002 alone. In the United States, it's estimated that 900,000 people suffer from HIV, with 40,000 new infections last year. However, across the world we are educating, motivating, and mobilizing against HIV/AIDS.

Today's Action

• In recognition of World AIDS Day, Secretary Thompson recommitted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to fighting the growing epidemic of HIV/AIDS. The Secretary is in Africa to lead a delegation of businesspeople, members of Congress, and others to see firsthand the toll HIV/AIDS is taking on the continent.
• Additionally, Deputy Secretary Claude Allen is in North Carolina joining community leaders to discuss the importance of HIV prevention in communities of color, and the Surgeon General will address HHS employees on the effects of the epidemic in the United States, before traveling to an HIV/AIDS conference in Latin America.
• President Bush has signed an historic emergency action plan for AIDS relief that devotes an unprecedented $15 billion over five years to fighting HIV/AIDS abroad.
• The President also supports the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, of which Secretary Thompson is the chairman.

HIV/AIDS in the United States and the World

• In the United States, 344,178 people were reported living with AIDS in 2001, though estimates of the total number are higher. Approximately 500,000 Americans have died of AIDS. However, the number of Americans who die of AIDS every year has decreased, and those with AIDS are living longer, thanks to antiviral medication.
• More than half of all new HIV infections are among African Americans, and approximately 20 percent are among Hispanics, though those groups make up only 12 and 13.5 percent, respectively, of the population.
• The main modes of HIV transmission in the United States are men who have sex with men, injection drug use, and heterosexual activity.
• The adult prevalence rate for North America is 0.6 percent, while the global rate is 1.2 percent, and 8.8 percent for sub-Saharan Africa.
• In 2002, there were 3.1 million AIDS deaths worldwide.
• Ninety-five percent of AIDS cases are in the world's poorest countries.
• In several sub-Saharan African countries, 1 in 5 people is HIV positive.
• Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 29.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS (70 percent of the world total), and 3.5 million of the newly infected (70 percent).

What Federal programs exist to fight HIV/AIDS?

• The current Administration spent more than $16 billion last year and has asked for more than $18 billion next year for domestic and international AIDS programs. Through this expansion in funding, HHS is increasing its commitment to the agencies and initiatives that manage these programs.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention within HHS have started a new prevention initiative that includes efforts to make voluntary HIV testing a routine part of medical care, and to implement new models for diagnosing HIV infections outside medical settings.
• The National Institutes of Health within HHS are conducting research into an AIDS vaccine and are working on improving current antiviral cocktail drugs.
• HHS also runs the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy (OHAP)'s Leadership Campaign on AIDS, which is dedicated to increasing public awareness about the threat that HIV/AIDS poses and bringing communities together to fight the disease.
• The Ryan White CARE Act, administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration's HIV/AIDS Bureau (HRSA HAB), provides healthcare for those who need it most but are unable to afford it.
• The United States participates in the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, having made the first pledge, and promising and delivering more funding than any other country. Secretary Thompson is currently the chair of the Global Fund.
• The United States has also joined the International Partnership Against HIV/AIDS in Africa (IPAA), and other international partners in Asia and South America, to expand and intensify response to the growing AIDS pandemic and its serious impact.

Last revised: August 16, 2007