The history of HIV and AIDS is a short one. As recently as the 1970s, no
one was aware of this deadly illness. Since then the global HIV/AIDS epidemic
has become one of the greatest threats to human health and development. At the
same time, much has been learnt about the science of HIV and AIDS, as well as
how to prevent and treat the disease.There is still no cure for HIV but treatment has improved enormously since the 90s. HIV-positive people who
take a combination of three antiretroviral drugs can expect to recover their
health and live for many years without developing AIDS, as long as they keep
taking the drugs every day. Statistics for the end of 2010 indicate that roughly 34 million people are living with HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS. Every year around 2.7 million more people become infected with HIV and 1.8 million die of AIDS. Although HIV and AIDS are found across the world, some places are effected much more severe, such as Africa.
