In the past 20 years, HIV and AIDS have been rightly considered as the world's most devastating epidemic, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Thanks to numerous efforts at national and international levels, achievements are being recorded in the response to the pandemic. The development of antiretroviral therapy (ART), a real scientific breakthrough, has helped lower the number of AIDS-related deaths. An unprecedented mobilization of funds has made it possible to broaden access to treatment, organize prevention education programmes, and set up counselling and testing services in many countries. There is some evidence that the prevalence rates are beginning to stabilize, and even decline, in a few countries. The number of new infections is also starting to decline. Action is beginning to pay off. Yet in 2007, there were still 33 million people living with HIV in the world, and only about one person in three that needed treatment in low- and middle-income countries was actually receiving ART. In many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than 25 per cent of those who need treatment have access to it. No vaccine is in sight, and the epidemic remains largely out of control. Prevention is still the most cost-effective response to the epidemic. The global AIDS epidemic continues to demand coherent and focused efforts. It also requires sustained action in the education sector.