PIP: This article is a Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) updated report from December 1999 on the AIDS epidemic. Observations included in the report are the following: 1) an estimated 33.6 million HIV/AIDS-infected individuals (23.3 million in Africa); 2) in 1999, 5.6 million new infections (3.8 million are in Africa); 3) since the epidemic began, there have been 2.6 million AIDS-related deaths; and 4) the life expectancy has dropped to 45 years for the next 5 years. Furthermore, the antenatal estimates tend to underestimate the real level of HIV infection in women and the conclusion seems to indicate that there are significantly more women infected with HIV infection than men. UNAIDS estimates that the ratio for every 10 men infected, there are 12-13 women that are HIV-positive. It was suggested that a degraded macroeconomic situation directly influence the health services, which confirms the link between poverty and HIV infection. During the 1996 study conducted in South Africa, an estimate of 52% from the 11 million people between 16-30 years old were unemployed, half of them classified under marginalized with few prospects of formal sector employment. This has led young people to adopt short-term survival strategies, which often include exchanging sex for schooling, employment, money or shelter before long-term well-being. This article may prove to be a useful background for policy development aimed at reversing the situation.