HIV/AIDS continues to wreak a path of devastation through sub-Sahara Africa and other developing regions, with nearly 34 million people now living with virus and more than half a million children infected this year alone, the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF) said Tuesday.

But today, the world has the potential to turn the AIDS pandemic around, UNICEF said.

"Some 14.8 million women and 1.2 million children under the age of 15 are living with the nightmare of HIV/AIDS, almost all of them in sub-Sahara Africa and other parts of the developing world, " UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said.

"These figures evoke a vast scale of death and destruction and tempt us to throw up our hands in despair. But we must resist that temptation. There is hope, and the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the developing world is just beginning," she said.

The UNICEF chief said one of the most encouraging signs was the drive and energy of young people in coming to grips with the AIDS crisis because they are at the center of the pandemic, she said.

"Young people understand even better than many adults that, through prevention, we can slow the rate of infection -- and eventually turn it around," she said.

Bellamy added that there has also been progress reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV, including pilot voluntary testing and counseling centers for women. (Xinhua)