In 2007, an estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, bringing the total number of people living with HIV to 22 million. Two thirds of the global total of 32.9 million people with HIV live in this region, and three-quarters of all AIDS deaths in 2007 occurred there.
Heterosexual intercourse remains the epidemic’s driving force in sub-Saharan Africa. The high rate of sexual transmission has also given rise to the world’s largest population of children living with HIV. However, recent epidemiological evidence has revealed the region’s epidemic to be more diverse than previously thought.
Sub-Saharan Africa's epidemics vary significantly between the countries in both scale and scope. In several West and Central African countries, Adult national HIV prevalence is below 2%; however, in 2007, it was above 5% in several other Central and East African Countries and prevalence exceeded 15% in seven countries: Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
