The HIV/AIDS Epidemic at the End of 1999

The status of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is summarized in a report entitled AIDS Epidemic Update: December 1999, issued by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization. The generally bleak but regionally diverse picture is conveyed in the series of bulleted statements at the beginning of the report and in two summary tables, reproduced below. The rest of the report discusses the regional situations in more detail. An earlier UNAIDS and WHO surveillance report (June 1998) was excerpted in the Documents section of PDR 24 (3).