The United Nations on Tuesday reported that in the year 2007, the number of AIDS deaths and new infections in children worldwide decreased by 10 percent. The major reason for this was the access to treatment.

The report given out of the UN also included that in many countries, the condom use and prevention methods have increased. Other than this, sex on adolescents also reduced in some of the most heavily affected regions.

Director of evaluation for UNAIDS, Paul De Lay commented, “In a surprisingly short period of time, there has been a tripling of prevention efforts in some countries.”

Though the deaths have decreased to great number, new infections, however, remained constant at about 2.7 million. The countries which saw an increase of infection in there citizens, include China, Indonesia, Kenya, Mozambique, Russia and Vietnam.

Purnima Mane, deputy executive director of the UN Population Fund said, “Although we have seen real progress in the last two years, if we want to continue to see results, we will need to see more financial resources and commitment.”

The report by UNAIDS was issued just few days before the Sunday start of the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.

Last November, the agency had issued a similar report in which it had drastically revised estimates of HIV prevalence and the numbers in the present report have little changed from the previous one.

According to the new report, about 33 million people are now living with HIV. In 2007, about 2.7 million people were newly infected with the virus, down from 3 million in 2001. In the previous year, 2.2 million people died of AIDS, whereas this year, 2 million died form the same. An estimated 25 million lives have been lost due to pandemic till date.
 
The U.S. Congress has taken an initiative last week by passing a bill to triple spending on a program to fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in Africa and other parts of the world. This week, President George W. Bush is scheduled to sign it into law. The bill would call for $48 million over the next five years.

On the other hand, a report was issued by the Black AIDS Institute activist group, in which it has claimed that though, the U.S.  Government fights with the disease overseas, yet it neglects the epidemic among the Black Americans.