Brazil getting closer to curbing AIDS

The prevalence of HIV in Brazil dropped to 0.5% of the population last year from 0.6% in 2005, its first fall in seven years, stated Pedro Chequer, coordinator of the United Nations AIDS program in Brazil, reported by the Reuters news agency.

"There are first signs that the AIDS epidemic in Brazil could revert," he said after the release of an official report, which also showed the number of new AIDS cases registered in Brazil fell to 17.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2006 from 19.5 the year before and 22.2 in 2002.

"Our broad prevention policy is beginning to have a positive impact," commented Mariangela Simao, head of the government's AIDS program. "We are seeing a stabilization in the prevalence of AIDS," she said, but warning that rates needed to fall for several years before calling it a declining trend.