Sixty-five million people have been infected with HIV/AIDS since it was first diagnosed in 1981. Over 25 million have died. In 2005, some 2.8 million died from AIDS-related diseases and over four million were newly infected. Two-thirds of all those living with HIV are in sub-Sahara Africa, where 24.5 million are infected. The majority of those of who have the virus (HIV) are unaware of their positive status. UNAIDS, a coalition of United Nations programs addressing HIV/AIDS, calls it “one of the greatest security and development issues facing the world today.”
