Fewer people are contracting HIV in poor and middle-income countries, and more people already afflicted are being kept alive by antiretroviral drugs, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. In a report released Tuesday, the agency charts progress over the past decade in 25 countries. Last year, 1.7 million deaths were attributed to AIDS, down from 2.3 million in 2005. "We are moving from despair to hope," said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS chief.