Ho, Sept. 23, GNA - More than 25 million people worldwide had died of HIV/Aids with more than 39 million people living with the disease by the year 2005.

Population growth has also slowed or stopped in few countries like Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa due to the disease. These were contained in the latest edition of BRIDGE, published by Population Reference Bureau of Washington D.C. USA.

It said the surge of AIDS deaths has also halted or reversed gains in life expectancy in many countries.

It said because of the increasing high AIDS mortality in Southern Africa for example, people between 20 and 49 years, accounted for almost three-fifth of all deaths in that region between 2000 and 2005, up from just one-fifth of all deaths between 1985 and 1990. It also said women were more vulnerable than men in some regions of the world where the virus is spread predominantly through heterosexual contact.

Effective prevention programmes include interventions that promote abstaining from sex, delaying the onset of sexual activity, staying with one mutually faithful partner, consistently and correctly using condoms and testing for HIV, it said.

It continued that the most effective mix of these interventions depends on the characteristics of the groups infected with HIV and that effective programmes should also consider the social, economic and cultural factors that influence people's behaviour.

It said key challenges for the future include, controlling further spread of the epidemic in infants and young adults, treating and supporting the millions of people living with HIV/AIDS and mitigating the impacts of the epidemic in poor countries.

It said to meet these challenges, the international community, governments and civil society need to ensure that prevention remains the backbone of HIV/AIDS control programme, even when treatment is available, improve health infrastructure and the capacity to provide services.

Others, it said, were to reduce poverty, illiteracy and the social, economic and political factors that increase people's vulnerability to HIV infection and reduce the stigma and discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS.