World AIDS Day 2011: A Year in the Global Pandemic

Images chronicling advances and struggles in the AIDS fight.

World AIDS Day U.N. Report: AIDS-Related Deaths Down 21 Percent - Ahead of this year’s World Aids Day on Dec. 1, UNAIDS released a report showing that, worldwide, deaths from AIDS are at their lowest level since 2005, with a 21 percent drop overall.According to the report, there were an estimated 34 million people living with HIV in 2010; since 2005, AIDS-related deaths have decreased from 2.2 million to 1.8 million.(Photo: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

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World AIDS Day U.N. Report: AIDS-Related Deaths Down 21 Percent - Ahead of this year’s World Aids Day on Dec. 1, UNAIDS released a report showing that, worldwide, deaths from AIDS are at their lowest level since 2005, with a 21 percent drop overall.According to the report, there were an estimated 34 million people living with HIV in 2010; since 2005, AIDS-related deaths have decreased from 2.2 million to 1.8 million.(Photo: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

U.N. Chief Ban Calls for End of AIDS by 2020 - Earlier this year, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for global action to end the AIDS epidemic by 2020."That is our goal — zero new infections, zero stigma and zero Aids-related deaths," Mr. Ban said at a UN summit on AIDS in New York last June.(Photo: Ragnar Singsaas/Getty Images)

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U.N. Chief Ban Calls for End of AIDS by 2020 - Earlier this year, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for global action to end the AIDS epidemic by 2020."That is our goal — zero new infections, zero stigma and zero Aids-related deaths," Mr. Ban said at a UN summit on AIDS in New York last June.(Photo: Ragnar Singsaas/Getty Images)

AIDS Turns 30 - 2011 marked the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV virus. Literally unknown to researchers and medical professionals (and identified in only five patients at the time), the disease was first identified in 1981 and was called pneumocystis pneumonia.(Photo: REUTERS/Jason Redmond)

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AIDS Turns 30 - 2011 marked the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV virus. Literally unknown to researchers and medical professionals (and identified in only five patients at the time), the disease was first identified in 1981 and was called pneumocystis pneumonia.(Photo: REUTERS/Jason Redmond)

Pope Calls AIDS an “Ethical Problem” - On a visit to Benin, Pope Benedict XVI called AIDS an "ethical problem" that needs a medical solution, backtracking from an earlier position blaming the use of condoms for the disease’s grip on Africa."The problem of AIDS in particular clearly calls for a medical and a pharmaceutical response," said a 135-page document released as the Pope’s vision for Africa. "This is not enough however. The problem goes deeper. Above all, it is an ethical problem."(Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi)

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Pope Calls AIDS an “Ethical Problem” - On a visit to Benin, Pope Benedict XVI called AIDS an "ethical problem" that needs a medical solution, backtracking from an earlier position blaming the use of condoms for the disease’s grip on Africa."The problem of AIDS in particular clearly calls for a medical and a pharmaceutical response," said a 135-page document released as the Pope’s vision for Africa. "This is not enough however. The problem goes deeper. Above all, it is an ethical problem."(Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi)

Balancing Individual Rights and Public Interests - Land use planning is important to ensure that land is used in the best interests of society, according to the report. Anchoring land use planning in a national land policy, similar to that of Ghana and Tanzania, would help to “strike a balance between protecting private property rights and the public interest while also promoting sustainable development.”(Photo: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)

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Swaziland AIDS Orphans Swindled Out of $10 Million - According to the International Monetary Fund, Swaziland's government owed its AIDS orphans $10 million in grants. Swaziland has the world's highest HIV/AIDS infection rate, and nearly 69,000 orphaned children as a result.(Photo: REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko)

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Addiction Hinders India's AIDS Fight - In India’s northeast, heroin from its opium-producing neighbor Myanmar is helping to spread both disease and addiction. More than one-quarter of the women in the district of Churachandpur use some kind of drugs and suffer from HIV; many will end up turning to prostitution to feed their addiction.(Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi) 

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Addiction Hinders India's AIDS Fight - In India’s northeast, heroin from its opium-producing neighbor Myanmar is helping to spread both disease and addiction. More than one-quarter of the women in the district of Churachandpur use some kind of drugs and suffer from HIV; many will end up turning to prostitution to feed their addiction.(Photo: REUTERS/Adnan Abidi) 

China’s Nuns Run to Help AIDS Victims - At this year's Beijing Marathon, 52 Chinese Catholic nuns participated to raise money for a charity that provides assistance to people living with AIDS. (Photo: China Daily/Landov)

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China’s Nuns Run to Help AIDS Victims - At this year's Beijing Marathon, 52 Chinese Catholic nuns participated to raise money for a charity that provides assistance to people living with AIDS. (Photo: China Daily/Landov)

Researchers Discover Early Use of Antiretroviral Drugs May Curb Spread of HIV/AIDS - Data released this year from studies conducted in several African countries showed that couples who were assigned to take the antiviral drug, tenofovir, had 62 percent fewer infections than couples who had taken a placebo; couples assigned to take Truvada (another antiviral drug) had 73 percent fewer infections.(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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Researchers Discover Early Use of Antiretroviral Drugs May Curb Spread of HIV/AIDS - Data released this year from studies conducted in several African countries showed that couples who were assigned to take the antiviral drug, tenofovir, had 62 percent fewer infections than couples who had taken a placebo; couples assigned to take Truvada (another antiviral drug) had 73 percent fewer infections.(Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Human AIDS Vaccine Study Results Give Hope - Researchers announced this year that they are closer than ever to nailing down a vaccine for the HIV virus. Two years of trials have resulted in the discovery of two ways the immune system can respond to the experimental vaccine RV144, which could predict whether those inoculated will be protected or are more likely to become infected with HIV.(Photo: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

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Human AIDS Vaccine Study Results Give Hope - Researchers announced this year that they are closer than ever to nailing down a vaccine for the HIV virus. Two years of trials have resulted in the discovery of two ways the immune system can respond to the experimental vaccine RV144, which could predict whether those inoculated will be protected or are more likely to become infected with HIV.(Photo: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

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Experimental AIDS Vaccine Found to be Effective in Monkeys - Also in AIDS vaccine news, this year saw success in the trials of an experimental vaccine that allowed monkeys with a form of the AIDS virus to control the infection for more than a year, leading many to believe that it may lead to a vaccine for people.(Photo: EPA/SALVATORE DI NOLFI/LANDOV)

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Seventy of the World’s Poorest Countries Get Discounted AIDS Drugs - People living with AIDS in seventy of the world’s poorest countries got a break this year from high drug prices after prices, on some of the most crucial drugs, were lowered by Indian pharmaceutical companies.Cocktails of AIDS drugs, such as first-line treatments containing the drugs tenofovir and efavirenz, and second-line regimens containing atazanavir and ritonavir that sell for nearly $12,000 or more in rich nations, are now available in many poor nations for less than $200.(Photo: Shashank Bengali/MCT/Landov)

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Seventy of the World’s Poorest Countries Get Discounted AIDS Drugs - People living with AIDS in seventy of the world’s poorest countries got a break this year from high drug prices after prices, on some of the most crucial drugs, were lowered by Indian pharmaceutical companies.Cocktails of AIDS drugs, such as first-line treatments containing the drugs tenofovir and efavirenz, and second-line regimens containing atazanavir and ritonavir that sell for nearly $12,000 or more in rich nations, are now available in many poor nations for less than $200.(Photo: Shashank Bengali/MCT/Landov)

AIDS Cases Increasing in Muslim Countries - A study released this year showed that AIDS is on the rise in many Muslim countries.The report found that many of the cases involved men who were having secret sexual relationships with other men for fear of social persecution, jail time or even execution, due to homophobic laws and pervasive beliefs.(Photo: REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli)

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AIDS Cases Increasing in Muslim Countries - A study released this year showed that AIDS is on the rise in many Muslim countries.The report found that many of the cases involved men who were having secret sexual relationships with other men for fear of social persecution, jail time or even execution, due to homophobic laws and pervasive beliefs.(Photo: REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli)