BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The 18th World AIDS Day on Thursday highlights the fact that the AIDS epidemic is still outracing global efforts to contain it despite progress in certain countries.

    The number of people living with HIV has reached 40.3 million, the highest level ever, with the number of affected adults hitting 38 million and children under 15 years 2.3 million, according to the annual report by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization.

    Meanwhile, AIDS -- the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome -- has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of the most destructive epidemic in recorded history.

    Despite recent improved access to anti-retroviral treatment and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed 3.1 million lives in 2005 and more than half a million were children.

    A total of 4.9 million people were newly infected with the virus in 2005 and 700,000 of them are children.

    The number of people living with HIV has increased in all but one region in the past two years. In the Caribbean, the second most affected region in the world, HIV prevalence in general showed no change in 2005, compared with 2003.

    Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and some countries in the Caribbean region all showed declines in HIV prevalence over the past two years thanks to changes in behavior, including increased use of condoms, delay of the first sexual experience and fewer sexual partners.

    Sub-Saharan Africa remains the hardest-hit, and is home to 25.8million people living with HIV in 2005, almost 1 million more than that in 2003 and about two thirds of all people living with HIV.

    An estimated 2.4 million people died of HIV-related illnesses in 2005 in Sub-Saharan Africa, while a further 3.2 million became infected with HIV.

    In southern Africa, the epidemic continues to intensify with HIV infection levels among pregnant women recording 20 percent or higher. In Botswana and Swaziland, infection levels are around 30 percent.

    South Africa's epidemic, one of the largest in the world, shows no signs of relenting.

    In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with HIV has increased by one quarter to 1.6 million since 2003, and the number of AIDS deaths almost doubled to 62,000 in the same period.

    By the end of 2004, about 300,000 HIV cases had been officially registered in Russia since the beginning of the epidemic but the actual number is much higher. An estimated 860,000 people were living with HIV in Russia at the end of 2003.

    In Asia, national HIV infection levels are low compared with Africa. The latest estimates showed some 8.3 million people were living with HIV in 2005, including the 1.1 million who were newly infected. AIDS claimed some 520,000 lives in 2005.

    The number of people living with HIV in Latin America has risen to an estimated 1.8 million. In 2005, some 66,000 people died of AIDS, and 200,000 were newly infected.

    The number of people living with HIV in North America, Western and Central Europe rose to 1.9 million in 2005, with about 65,000 newly infected in 2005. Wide availability of anti-retroviral therapy has helped keep AIDS deaths comparatively low, at about 30,000. Enditem