FACTBOX: Africa the worst hit by AIDS, by far

(Reuters) - World leaders must not let the global financial crisis distract them from fighting HIV/AIDS, the United Nations' top AIDS official said on Tuesday.

Following are some key details about AIDS in Africa, the region most affected by the pandemic:

* SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:

-- Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region most heavily affected by HIV, accounting for more than two thirds of all people living with HIV globally.

-- Of the global total of 2.1 million adult and child deaths due to AIDS in 2007, 1.6 million occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

-- An estimated 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007, declining from 2.2 million new infections in 2001. There are currently an estimated 22.5 million people living with HIV in the region.

* SOUTH AFRICA:

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

-- HIV prevalence in adults aged 15 to 49 is 18 percent.

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

-- Reflecting similar trends from other countries in the region, young women in South Africa face greater risks of becoming infected than men: among 15 to 24-year-olds, they account for around 90 percent of new HIV infections.

* IN THE REGION:

-- National adult HIV prevalence exceeded 15 percent in Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe in 2005.

-- In Swaziland, approximately one in four adults are infected with HIV.

-- In Mozambique, the epidemic continues to grow; in some provinces in the central and southern zones of the country, adult HIV prevalence has reached or exceeded 20 percent, while infections continue to increase among young people aged 15-21.

-- Most of the smaller HIV epidemics in West Africa are stable or are declining, as is the case for Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Nigeria.