LONDON (AlertNet) - According to U.N. figures released in December 2004, an estimated 39.4 million people are living with HIV worldwide.

95 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS live in low- and middle-income countries. An estimated 25.4 million alone live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Treatment, for millions, is unavailable or inaccessable: Just one million people in developing countries who need treatment – anti-retroviral drugs – were receiving them in July 2005.

In the meantime, HIV infection rates continue to rise at a rate of about 13,500 per day. An estimated 4.9 million people were newly infected in 2004. Another 3.1 million died of AIDS in the same year.

To help you keep informed we've compiled a list of useful resources.

Reuters facts and figures

Reuters factbox - How AIDS drugs save lives

Study shows circumcision may reduce AIDS risk

The precise number of people living with HIV/AIDS is unknown, and estimates tend to change. UNAIDS explains why the new global estimate is lower than the previously published estimate of 42 million in 2002.

Understanding the latest estimates of the global AIDS epidemic -- July 2004

Reuters graphic showing the estimated number of HIV/AIDS cases in each continent

New infections In 2004, an estimated 4.9 million people were newly infected with HIV. The fastest-growing AIDS epidemics are in East Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. East Asia saw a rise of 50 percent between 2002 and 2004; in Eastern Europe and Central Asia there was a 40 percent rise in the same period.

AlertNet factbox: HIV/AIDS focus on China and India

AIDS vaccine Why has an AIDS vaccine eluded us? It is often argued that the search for a vaccine has taken a back seat to the search for new AIDS drugs, and that not enough money is being invested in a vaccine. Read more about it.

WHO-UNAIDS HIV Vaccine Initiative

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

Women and AIDS Women are increasingly affected by the pandemic. Globally just under half of all people living with HIV are female, but a startling 76 percent of young people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are female.

Read more about the effects of AIDS on women:

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS

Children and AIDS AIDS has robbed 15 million children of one or both parents and reversed a trend toward fewer orphans driven by better health and nutrition, according to the United Nations.

"Children on the Brink 2004"

For more on the effects of AIDS on children and children living with HIV/AIDS see

United Nations Children’s Fund

AIDS in the workplace Read the first global analysis of the effects of HIV/AIDS on the world's labour force, published by the International Labour Organisation.

"HIV/AIDS and work: global estimates, impact and response"