Progress achieved in world AIDS treatment

Global AIDS deaths and new HIV infections have each dropped 21 percent since the peak of the AIDS pandemic in 1997, according to a UN report released Monday. One major factor responsible for the result is that life-saving HIV treatments have become more popular and got to 1.35 million more people in 2010 than in 2009. In middle-income and underdeveloped nations, these treatments have saved 2.5 million lives since 1995. "We have seen a massive scale-up in access to HIV treatment, which has had a dramatic effect on the lives of people everywhere," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of the U.N. AIDS program. However, 53 percent of people who need HIV/AIDS treatments -- about 7.6 million people -- cannot get them, which accounted for 1.8 million AIDS deaths in 2010. There are now 34 million people living with HIV. And just in last year there were 2.7 million new infections. The decline in deaths and new infections means the AIDS pandemic is at a turning point, the UNAIDS report argues, adding smart investment can save millions of future deaths.