Urban areas in Rwanda, Zambia and Ethiopia were singled out as places where infection rates were lowering.
The World Bank's Miriam Schneidman told the BBC that Rwanda had done an "exceptional job" in recognising the HIV problem and taking strong action.
Figures from the World Bank put the prevalence of Aids in Rwanda at about 3%, down from 11% seven years ago.
"The mobilisation of empowered 'grassroots' communities, along with delivering condoms and life-saving treatments, are beginning to slow the pace of the ... epidemic," the report said, without giving detailed statistics.
But it says southern Africa remains the epicentre of the epidemic.
In Francistown, a city in Botswana bordering Zimbabwe, 70% of women in their early 30s were found to be HIV-positive, according to a 2004 household survey.
| Aids stole into Africa like a thief in the night World Bank's Joy Phumaphi |
Last year, the epidemic killed more than 2m people in Africa.
Rwanda's success is put down to understanding the seriousness of the problem early on and taking quick action.
"Prevention messages, early testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission - it's been this holistic approach that we think has really provided the strong results that we're seeing," Ms Schneidman told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The epidemic shows signs of slowing in Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, and in urban Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, and Zambia, the report says.
In East Africa, the picture is mixed with significant numbers of new infections originating in the commercial sex trade, it says.
"Aids stole into Africa like a thief in the night, and all these years later, we still must stay vigilant against this terrible disease," Joy Phumaphi, of the World Bank's Human Development Network, a former health minister of Botswana.
"Even when it seems that infections are starting to fall and more and more people are being saved with treatment."
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