Ahead of the regional Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) meeting, a senior official announced that the number of new HIV infections in the region has fallen since last year, Agence France-Presse reports. PANCAP reports there were “a recorded 17,000 new infections last year compared to 20,000 the previous year” and “11,000 deaths compared to 14,000 during the same period,” the news service writes.

Health experts attribute the decline in the number of HIV infections and deaths to a public education campaign and more condom use as well as increased access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment. PANCAP Director Carl Browne cautioned, “The figures are still very high for such a small region.” According to AFP, the “[l]atest statistics show that 230,000 people in the Caribbean and 22 million in Africa live with HIV and AIDS.”

The article includes information about the topics to be covered during the ninth annual PANCAP meeting, being held October 28 through 30 (10/26).