New HIV infections in children have halved since 2001 and been cut by one-third in adults.
These are some of the "striking gains" announced in the Global report on HIV/AIDS 2013, released by the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS), today.
AIDS deaths have also dropped significantly, with an estimated 1.6 million people dying of AIDS last year, in comparison to some 2.3 million in 2005.
The reduction in HIV in children is due largely to treatment programmes to prevent pregnant women with HIV from passing the virus on to their newborns.
South Africa is one of the top performers, reaching 80 percent of pregnant HIV-positive women, while Botswana, Ghana, Namibia and Zambia are already reaching the UNAIDS 2015 target of 90 percent of women.
But neighbouring Lesotho has gone in reverse, now only reaching 57 percent of pregnant women (down from 75 percent the previous year), while Angola only treats 17 percent of pregnant women.
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe attributed the successes to "the synergistic efforts of diverse stakeholders," including "the leadership and commitment of national governments, the solidarity of the international community, innovation by programme implementers, the historic advances achieved by the scientific research community and the passionate engagement of civil society, most notably people living with HIV themselves."
But Sidibe warned against complacency, as there was still "a major resource gap" of up to $5.4 billion undermining the world's efforts to reduce HIV by 2015, in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
