By the end of 1998, the number of people living with HIV is estimated to have grown to 33.4 million, according to estimates from UNAIDS and WHO. Most of these people do not know that they are infected. The epidemic has not been overcome anywhere. Virtually every country in the world saw new infections in 1998 and the epidemic is frankly our of control in many places.

Since the start of the epidemic around two decades ago, HIV has infected more than 47 million people. And though it is a slow-acting virus that can take a decade or more to cause severe illness and death, HIV has already cost the lives of nearly 14 million adults and children. An estimated 2.5 million of these deaths occurred during 1998 more than ever before in a single year.