Probably a number of socio-political factors in play here, not least the proximity of Europe to Africa. Also there are vast regions of the US that are undereducated about issues such as HIV/AIDS (some Southern states, for example, predominantly around the bible belt), and see the issues as black & white: people with HIV/AIDS must be gay, promiscuous, drug users or all of the above and therefore deserve all they get. It's sad to say but even in this day and age it's true.

I'm not saying Europe doesn't have its fair share of this too, but I do believe that education around such issues has soared in recent years and people here take a more realistic and symathetic outlook to the entire problem. We are also a little (dare I say it) more outward-looking than the US, as we are several nations with different cultures and different languages living within one continent, and can see the issue from a world perspective more easily.

Having said that, I would love North America to prove me wrong and start leading the stats board again! Come on America!!

Excellently put, VAIO mate... I always had a problem with conciseness

Rock on, Europe