HEALTH : AIDS Cases Escalate Worldwide

GENEVA —  AIDS swept the world at an alarming rate in 1989, the reported number of cases rising by more than 50% to more than 200,000 despite a global prevention campaign.

Reports from 177 countries or territories signaled a cumulative total of 203,599 cases to the World Health Organization by the end of 1989, compared to 132,976 by the end of 1988, according to the organization’s figures.

“We have arrived at a critical junction in the global fight against AIDS,” said Dr. Jonathan Mann, who leads the health organization’s AIDS fight. “The gap between the pace of the endemic and prevention and control efforts is threatening to widen.”