Health Report.Wednesday is December first,World AIDS Day.This year, experts are reportingmore signs of successin halting the AIDS epidemic.The number of AIDS-related deathsand the number of new infectionsare both decreasing.Michel Sidibe is theexecutive director of the jointUnited Nations programknown as UNAIDS.MICHEL SIDIBE: "Today we can saywith confidence and convictionthat we have broken the trajectoryof the AIDS pandemic."The latest UNAIDS report saysnew HIV infections have fallenalmost twenty percentin the last ten years.And there has been a similar dropin the last five yearsin the number of AIDS-related deaths.An estimated thirty-three millionpeople worldwide were livingwith HIV last year.Two and a half millionwere children.HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.Africa south of the Saharahas the most deaths and new infections.But many of those countrieshave made important progress.Worldwide estimates show thatmore than two and a half million peoplebecame newly infected with HIVin two thousand nine.At the same time,about one millioneight hundred thousand peopledied from AIDS-related sicknesses.Drug treatment to suppressthe virus has expanded.One result has been fewer babiesborn infected by their mothers.Still, the report saysten million peopleare waiting for treatment.UNAIDS officials also saynot enough is being spentfor prevention.They say prevention effortsare responsible for much of the progress.More and more young people saythey are following safer practices.Surveys find greater use of condomsand people in many countries saythey have fewer sexual partners.World Health Organizationchief Margaret Chan calledthis year's AIDS report encouraging.But she noted that the populationsmost at risk are also thosewho have the least access to services.These populations include sex workers,drug users and homosexual men.In other health news,a new study has found thatone in every one hundred deathsin the world is causedby other people smoking.Researchers found that more thansix hundred thousand non-smokersdied in two thousand four.They say the deaths werefrom diseases and infectionscaused by secondhand smoke,also known as passive smoking.The study in the journal Lancet saysone hundred sixty-five thousandof those tobacco victims were children.And that's the VOA Special EnglishHealth Report,written by Caty Weaver.