BBC-A record number of people were infected with HIV around the world this year, a report says. Figures from UNAids and the World Health Organization put the number of new infections at five million. The report also estimates that three million people died from the disease this year. But it warns that the figures could rise sharply in the years ahead, with Eastern Europe and Central Asia on the verge of epidemics.

The report, which is published ahead of World Aids Day on 1 December, estimates 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV/Aids. Of these, 2.5 million are children. Around 14,000 people are infected with the disease every day.

Officials say the figures are more reliable than previous year's estimates, following improvements in the way the data is collected. People living in sub-Saharan Africa continue to be most at risk. About 30% of people living with HIV/Aids are in this part of the world.

South Africa, alone, is home to 5.3 million people with HIV - more than any other country in the world. In Botswana, 39% of the population is HIV positive, the report says. Two out of three new HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Three out four deaths from the disease occur in this part of the world.

However, the report also shows that other countries are standing on the verge of major epidemics. The number of reported infections is rising sharply in China, India, Indonesia and Russia, mostly due to HIV transmission through injecting drug use and unsafe sex.

Dr Lee Jong-Wook, director general of the WHO, said details of the strategy will be released on World Aids Day next week. "This represents an unprecedented drive to increase the number of people receiving treatment," he said. "For '3 by 5' to succeed, however, and for treatment access to increase further in the future the international community must continue to increase its financial and logistical support." Nick Partridge, chief executive of the UK charity Terrence Higgins Trust, welcomed the report.

"The HIV epidemic continues to devastate communities across the world and we're increasingly feeling its impact here in the UK. "Now more than ever, we must step up our efforts to tackle the epidemic in this country, as well as fulfil our responsibilities in the international fight against HIV. "We will fail if we don't understand that we are all part of a global epidemic," he said. "Strong political leadership is vital to promote education, access to treatment for all and renewed vigour in the quest for vaccines and a cure."

Derek Bodell, chief executive of the UK's National Aids Trust, said: "Today's statistics continue to cause us concern. "By now it should be evident to all that HIV does not respect borders."

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - AIDS will orphan millions more of African children in the next seven years, warns a report issued Wednesday by UNICEF. The UN report "Africa's Orphaned Generations" predicts that by 2010, more than one in five children will by orphaned in the hardest hit counries of Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

AIDS has already orphaned more than 11 million African children, half of whom are between the ages of 10 and 14. By 2010, that number is expected to rise to about 20 million. The care for about 90 per cent of these orphans is left to extended families. In most cases, the community is not equipped to care fully for these children who are forced to leave school and are subjected to the worst forms of child labour.