The 2005 report by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is a shocking reminder that the number of HIV/AIDS cases worldwide has hit an all-time high, exceeding 40 million people for the first time.
December 1 marked World AIDS Day, the theme of which this year was "AIDS: Do you think it has nothing to do with you?" The number of confirmed HIV and AIDS cases in Japan is not very large in absolute terms at around the 10,000 mark but it is rising steadily. Efforts must be intensified to prevent an explosion of cases.
The UNAIDS report, made public Dec. 1, estimates that the number of infected people will rise to 40.3 million by the end of 2005, an increase of 2.8 million since December 2003. This year 4.9 million people have been infected with the HIV virus and 3.1 million have died of AIDS.