New York: A new wave of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) / AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) pandemic is threatening countries with large populations including India, China, Russia and Indonesia, mostly due to transmission through injecting drugs and unsafe sex, the United Nations warned today (Nov 26).

A record number of five million people were infected with HIV and three million died this year, showing that current efforts worldwide have failed to stem the deadly disease, a report released by UNAIDS ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1, said.

About 14,000 people are infected by the disease worldwide every day and out of them 2,000 are children. The number of children infected this year is estimated to be 7,00,000.

About 95 per cent of infections occur in developing countries, with nearly two-thirds in the worst affected sub-Saharan Africa. More than one million occurred this year in South Asia and Pacific, including India and China, the UN agency said.

The report estimated that about 40 million people are living with HIV worldwide, including some 2.5 million children under the age of 15.

It regretted that despite growing prevalence of the infection, too little prevention outreach is being done and calls for safe sex education and safer injection techniques.

Young men are the hardest hit and the number of women infected with HIV is rising sharply. As many as 33 per cent of those infected at the end of last year were women, up from 24 per cent a year earlier, the report said.

PTI