World Aids Day: Access to Life

In Mali, HIV is transmitted mainly through sexual contact, and 1.7% of Mali’s population of more than 12 million is infected. The stigma surrounding Aids is still strong, but a tradition of polygamous marriage adds to the challenge of preventing transmission. Efforts to prevent and treat Aids have expanded rapidly and health centres are now able to provide free testing and treatment throughout the country Photograph: © Paolo Pellegrin/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/Mali

After the fall of the Soviet Union, drug use rose rapidly in Russia. Hundreds of thousands of young people became addicts and, with heroin injection came the spread of HIV, rapidly infecting more than 1 million Russians. The country now has one of the world’s most rapidly expanding Aids epidemics and those infected are often diagnosed too late to be saved Photograph: © Alex Majoli/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/Russia

The percentage of Vietnam’s population infected with HIV is still low, at less than 1%. Most Vietnamese living with HIV became infected through contaminated needles while injecting drugs; within this group, the rate of infection is radically higher. Heroin and other drugs are cheap and casual use is common, so HIV infection through drug use affects a larger part of the population in Vietnam than in many other countries Photograph: © Steve McCurry/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/Vietnam

Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV infection in the world, with more than one quarter of its population infected, impacting on every aspect of life. About 130,000 children have lost one or both of their parents Photograph: © Larry Towell/Magnum Photos/Access To Life/Swaziland

Despite its troubled recent history, Rwanda’s effort to combat Aids has made free lifelong treatment available to 44,000 people – up from 4,000 people who had started treatment just five years ago. Rwanda stands out as one of the success stories in Africa and is a model for how healthcare can reach all communities. Yet Aids remains a serious health problem in a country rebuilding from war and genocide Photograph: © Gilles Peress/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/Rwanda

In Peru, Aids has hit men who have sex with men, drug users and commercial sex workers the hardest. Projects that make free Aids treatment available require a person to pass “adherence” testing, showing they have family or community support to help them stay on their treatment Photograph: © Eli Reed/Magnum Photos/Access to Life: Peru

With more than 5.5 million people living with HIV, South Africa remains the country with the highest number of infected people in the world. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, women are three times as likely to be infected as men in some parts of the country Photograph: © Larry Towell/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/South Africa

Haiti and the Dominican Republic together account for three-quarters of HIV infections in the Caribbean. Although it is one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti is making steady progress in providing antiretro viral therapy to people with Aids. Transmission of HIV happens mainly through unprotected sex and, while condom use is becoming more accepted in cities, poor women in rural areas remain at high risk of being infected Photograph: © Jonas Bendiksen/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/Haiti

India’s Aids epidemic has been caused mainly by unprotected sex. Estimates are that more than 2.5 million Indians are living with HIV. Women are particularly at risk of having the virus passed to them by their husbands or regular partners, who have been infected through paid sex. In some parts of India, injected drugs also play a significant role in the spread of HIV Photograph: © Jim Goldberg/Magnum Photos/Access to Life/India