* Every day over 7,400 people are infected with HIV and 5,500 die from AIDS- related illnesses. HIV remains the leading cause of death among reproductive-age women worldwide. * An estimated 33.4 million people were living with HIV in 2008, two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. * Access to HIV treatment in low- and middle-income countries increased ten-fold over a span of just five years. * Malaria kills a child in the world every 45 seconds. Close to 90 per cent of malaria deaths occur in Africa, where it accounts for a fifth of childhood mortality. * 1.8 million people died from tuberculosis in 2008, about 500,000 of whom were HIV-positive.