The number of people living with HIV grew by 2.7 million new infections in 2008, but that represented a 17 percent decline from eight years earlier, the UN reported Tuesday.

Since 2001, HIV incidence has plummeted by 25 percent in East Africa, by 15 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, and by 10 percent in South and Southeast Asia, according to the UN's "2009 AIDS Epidemic Update." Compared to the global epidemic's 1996 high point of about 3.5 million new infections, global incidence in 2008 was 30 percent lower.

The number of low- and middle-income HIV/AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral therapy has grown 10-fold in the past five years, said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. With improved access to ARVs, HIV-related deaths have been cut, standing at an estimated 2 million last year - a 10 percent reduction since the 2004 peak of 2.2 million deaths. To date, an estimated 60 million people have acquired HIV, and 25 million people have died from AIDS.

"The good news is that we have evidence that the declines we are seeing are due, at least in part, to HIV prevention," Sidibe said. He added, "If we do a better job of getting resources and programs to where they will make the most impact, quicker progress can be made and more lives saved."

Treatment access is still being outpaced by some 7,400 new HIV infections a day, said Sidibe. "Any time we are putting two people on treatment, five people are becoming infected," making effective prevention strategies imperative, he said.

"International and national investment in HIV treatment scale-up has yielded concrete and measurable results," said Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization. "We cannot let this momentum wane."