UNITED NATIONS -- Taking stock of what needs to be done to combat the AIDS epidemic, the United Nations has organized a day of events on Monday with world leaders attending the 58th UN General Assembly.

Following are the latest statistics, trends, issued by UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, and other UN bodies.

According to Reuters 28 million people have died from AIDS to date out of the 65 million who have contracted the disease over 20 years.

42 million people are infected by the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Of this group 6 million have full-blown symptoms. In 2002, 3.1 million died and 5 million were infected.

28.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV/AIDS out of an adult population of 291 million and 15 million have died. In Botswana, the rate is nearly 39 percent.

6 million people in developing nations need AIDS treatment immediately. Less than 300,000 get it. In Africa just 50,000 people out of 4.1 million have access to treatment.

At current rates of delivery, less than 1 million people of the 6 million who need desperately drugs in the developing world will have access to proper drugs by the end of 2005. The World Health Organization advocates a "3 by 5" goal to provide drugs to 3 million people by the end of 2005.

The annual cost of drugs costs $300 to $600 per person in developing nations. More than 14 million children under the age of 15 have lost one or both parents to AIDS. This number is expected to increase to 24 million by 2010

The AIDS pandemic is expected to increase until mid-century after spreading to China, Russia, India and other parts of Asia unless responses are accelerated. Total global spending for AIDS from all sources is about $4 billion in 2003.