FACTBOX: Facts on AIDS

(Reuters) - South Africa's new health minister Barbara Hogan vowed Thursday to make AIDS a top priority after years of controversy over her predecessor's unconventional support for beetroot and garlic as treatments.

Here are some key facts on AIDS:

-- Global deaths from AIDS reached an estimated 2 million in 2007, down from 2.1 million deaths in 2006, according to UNAIDS.

-- Some 33 million people were living with immunodeficiency virus infections in 2007, most of them in Africa, according to the latest United Nations reports on the AIDS epidemic.

Here are some of the latest key details about AIDS in South Africa:

* SOUTH AFRICA:

-- South Africa, with some 5.7 million people infected with HIV, represents the world's largest AIDS epidemic.

-- An estimated 500,000 people are infected each year and around 1,000 die every day from AIDS-related illnesses.

-- There is a prevalence rate of 18.1 percent for adults aged 15 to 49.

-- There are 5.4 million adults aged 15 and up living with HIV. Of those 3.2 million are women. There are 280,000 children aged 0 to 14 living with HIV.

-- 350,000 people died from AIDS in the last year according to the 2008 report.

* AIDS IN AFRICA:

-- Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for two thirds of all people living with HIV and 75 percent of AIDS deaths in 2007.

-- An estimated 1.9 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007, bringing to 22 million the number of Africans living with HIV.

-- The nine countries in southern Africa continue to bear a disproportionate share of the global AIDS burden, with 35 percent of HIV infections and 38 percent of AIDS deaths in 2007 in the region.

Sources: Reuters/UNAIDS/ 2008 reports/ www.unaids.org/

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)