UN agencies said Tuesday that the global AIDS deaths have reached a record of 2.6 million this year and HIV infection continued unabated, with some 5.6 million adults and children becoming infected in 1999.

Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, 50 million individuals worldwide have been infected with HIV, the virus leading to AIDS. Among them more than 33 million are still alive and over 16 million are dead.

The figures were released by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organizations (WHO) in a report in advance of World AIDS Day which falls on December 1.

The report said HIV-positive women in Africa now outnumber infected men by 2 million while countries of former Soviet Union have seen infection rates double between 1997 and 1999.

HIV infections are expected to rise annually in the coming years, fueled by growing use of injected drugs, the UN agencies warned.