This year's World AIDS Day, which fell yesterday, is the 25th time that the day is being observed. The awareness day was first established by the World Health Organization, in 1988.

Thirty-four million people had HIV in 2011. The number has been growing each year for a decade as what was once a terminal illness has been transformed by drug treatment into a chronic disease.

"We have moved from despair to hope," said the executive director of UNAids Michel Sidibe. "Now we need to do more."