Here is some new global data on HIV and AIDS from an updated report by the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

THE GLOBAL PICTURE:

* More than 34 million people worldwide had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS at the end of 2010, according to the latest figures issued by (UNAIDS). There were 26.2 million in 1999.

* There were an estimated 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths around the world in 2009.

* Since the AIDS pandemic started in the early 1980s, more than 60 million people have been infected with HIV and nearly 30 million have died of HIV-related causes.

* The number of girls aged 10-14 living with HIV grew from about 50,000 in 1999 to more than 300,000 in 2010.

- Young women aged 15-24 account for 26 percent of all new HIV infections globally.

- In southern Africa, young women are up to five times more likely to become infected with HIV than young men.

* ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY AND PLANNING:

- An estimated 6.6 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2010, a nearly 22-fold increase since 2001.

- About 9 million people in low- and middle-income countries who were eligible for antiretroviral treatment were not receiving it, as of end-2010.

* Between 2001 and 2009, the global annual rate of new HIV infections declined by nearly 25 percent.

* In 2010, 94 percent of countries (162 of 172 countries reporting) had national HIV strategic plans, up from 87 percent in 2006.

* Despite dramatic gains in treatment access, 9 million people who were eligible for treatment were not receiving it, as of December 2010.

- Up to 460,000 children were receiving antiretroviral therapy at the end of 2010. Treatment coverage for children (28 percent) was lower than for people of all ages (36 percent) in 2009.

* INVESTMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY:

- Between 2001 and 2009, investments in the HIV response in low- and middle-income countries rose nearly 10-fold, from $1.6 billion to $15.9 billion.

- In 2010, international AIDS resources declined for the first time in a decade. Financial challenges in many countries have put downward pressure on funding sources.

- A 2011 investment framework proposed by UNAIDS and partners found that a more focused annual investment of at least $22 billion is needed by the year 2015, $6 billion more than is available today.

- The estimated return on this investment: 12 million more HIV infections averted and 7.4 million more deaths averted by the year 2020.

SOURCE: UNAIDS/Reuters