BEIJING, June 1 (Xinhuanet) -- At a recent conference, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that the world has fallen far short of fulfilling the promises made five years ago to fight HIV/AIDS.

    The conference, which comes a week before the 25th anniversary of the first documented AIDS cases on June 5, 1981, seeks to chart course for prevention and treatment of the deadly virus by 2010.

    Annan told the General Assembly Hall that efforts to fight AIDS among women and children had failed and that young people still have little understanding of AIDS.

    The virus "has spread further, faster and with more catastrophic long-term effects than any other disease," Annan said. "Its impact has become a devastating obstacle to the progress of humankind."

    A similar conference held in 2001 put forth the first comprehensive plan for combating the disease, which promised to get treatment to 3 million poor people infected with AIDS by the end of last year. Most of the targets set forth by the 2001 conference, however, have not been met.

    According to a U.N. report released on Tuesday, nearly 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. India now has the largest number of AIDS infections, but the epidemic still remains at its worst in sub-Saharan Africa, where per capita rates continue to climb in several countries.

    Women's vulnerability to the disease continues to increase, with more than 17 million women infected worldwide -- nearly half the global total -- and more than three-quarters of them living in sub-Saharan Africa, the report found.  Enditem