The World Health Organization will publish its annual report on the world's AIDS epidemic

the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS and the World Health Organization are due to publish their annual reports on the world's AIDS situation later this weekAccording to an advance media report, the United Nations estimated in last year's report that the number of people living with HIV worldwide was nearly 40 million, and this year it will lower that figure to about 33 millionU.Nofficials acknowledge that previous overestimations of people living with HIV are expected to help push the fight against AIDS furtherU.Nofficials, who have sharply lowered, say more accurate statistics from India are the main reason why the U.Nhas made a big correction in the number of people living with HIVThe United Nations previously estimated that about 5.7 million Indians are living with HIV, but figures from this report show that number has fallen to about.5 million" The data show a natural trend in the spread of AIDS and reflect the results of AIDS prevention," the report said, "70 per cent of the differences reported last year and this year were due to statistical changes from angola
,India
,Kenya
,Mozambique
, Nigeria and Zimbabwe New figures in the report show
that an estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV , about 30
.8 million adults and
about 2
0.5 million children, Another reason for the lower number is that , the number of new infections in has indeed decreased The new report the number of new infections peaked in the late 1990s, when it was estimated that about 3 million new infections were newly infected each year, compared with
an estimated 2
.5 million in 2007 2007 Experts question some researchers have accused U.N officials of deliberately exaggerating the extent of the epidemic in an attempt to gain political and financial support to fight the deadly disease These scholars argue that if United Nations officials do so, it could also affect the funding arrangements that experts will gain from the anti-AIDS campaign, since false figures would prevent experts from determining whether the measures being taken are effective " There has been a tendency to speak of alarm," says Helen Epstein, author of Invisible TheRapy James Chan, a who worked for WHO and is an AIDS expert, has long accused UN agencies of exaggerating AIDS statistics He has written "The Collision of Epidemiology and Political Correctness" The University of California epidemiology professor says even a lower number can hardly tell whether HIV treatment and prevention work The data for the new amendments are also incomplete and require more corrections The task is daunting
according to the report, 2
007, about 2.1 million people worldwide died of AIDS, compared with about 2.9 million in 2006 "This is the first time we've seen a global decline in AIDS deaths," said Kevin Kirk, head of the World Health Organization's AIDS program "The decrease in the number of deaths is evidence of the role of some of the United Nations anti-AIDS strategies Although global figures are declining, regional differences are wide The report shows that sub-Saharan Africa is still a major hit area of AIDS, and some Southeast Asian countries are facing serious challenges " Paul Zeitz, executive director of the Global AIDS Alliance, says that while the numbers are down from previous levels, they cannot be relaxed "We still see millions of new infections, and this is not the time for us to step back from this battle," he said "The improved data provide a clearer picture of the spread of AIDS, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for us," dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said in a statement "
(
Ma Zhen)