The 2010 edition of the UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic includes new country by country scorecards on key issues facing the AIDS response. Based on the latest data from 182 countries, this global reference book provides comprehensive analysis on the AIDS epidemic and response. For the first time the report includes trend data on incidence from more than 60 countries.

This Strategy has been developed through wide consultation, informed by the best evidence and driven by a moral imperative to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and the Millennium Development Goals.

There is a lot to be hopeful for as we approach the milestone of reaching the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Much has been achieved—fewer people are dying of AIDS-related illnesses and the rate of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 17% since 2001. Recent breakthroughs in HIV prevention research – such as a woman initiated and controlled microbicide gel combined with the increasing scale up of male circumcision—hold promise for both women and men to protect themselves from HIV.

We live in a time of unprecedented hope for the 33.3 million people living with HIV worldwide. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) offers the promise of a full and fulfilling life. Now people living with HIV can raise their families, work and pursue their dreams. But a thief is in our midst—one that is routinely robbing people, and the countries they live in, of their futures. Every minute, three people living with HIV have their lives snatched away by tuberculosis (TB). Africa, hit hard by HIV, is also hit hard by TB. TB is the main cause of death in people living with HIV.

A new report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), released on 21 November, shows that 2011 was a game changing year for the AIDS response with unprecedented progress in science, political leadership and results. The report also shows that new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths have fallen to the lowest levels since the peak of the epidemic.

This documents the extraordinary progress achieved over the past decade in the health sector response to HIV. Access to evidence-informed HIV prevention, testing and counselling, treatment and care services in low- and middle-income countries has expanded dramatically.

The data tables describe in greater detail the progress being made against the HIV epidemic and the main challenges to achieving zero HIV infections and zero AIDS deaths. The data are drawn from country progress reports and will be updated regularly. This document reflects information found in the publication ‘Global HIV/AIDS response: epidemic update and health sector progress towards universal access: progress report 2011’, by UNAIDS, UNICEF and WHO.

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, the HIV epidemic has been on the rise since 2001. Although the overall HIV prevalence in the region is still low, the rise in new infections has put MENA among the top two regions in the world with the fastest growing HIV epidemic. The rise in the estimated number of people living with HIV in the region presumably is the result of an increased HIV prevalence among key populations at higher risk and a forward transmission of the virus to a larger number of individuals who are generally at lower risk of infection.

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