Brazil's AIDS/HIV treatment and prevention programs have helped keep those with the virus healthier, and have prevented the large increase in new infections that many predicted, according to government reports.

In the mid-1990s, the World Bank forecast that 1.2 million Brazilians would be HIV-positive by 2000, but in 2002 less than 600,000 were living with the virus. The Brazilian government says the result is largely due to the country's aggressive AIDS education campaigns, its encouragement of condom use and the availability of clean needles for intravenous drug users.

Guaranteed medication for HIV-positive Brazilians has decreased the rates of AIDS-related hospitalizations and deaths. According to the Brazilian government, studies show that when Brazilians take AIDS drugs they are about as likely to follow tough drug regimens as patients in Western cities. A 2001 UNAIDS report cites Brazil among a group of middle-income countries that have "a comparable feasibility, efficacy and adherence with antiretroviral treatment to those obtained in high-income countries." Adhering to a demanding antiretroviral drug regimen is not only crucial for an individual patient's health, it also helps prevent the development of drug-resistant HIV strains.

By keeping those with HIV in better health, the government's public health care system often saves money on hospitalizations and other treatment, Dr. Paolo Teixeira, director of Brazil's AIDS programs, told the NewsHour.

-- By Karyn Schwartz, Online NewsHour