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Global AIDS Crisis |
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The Issue No one imagined 25 years ago that AIDS would become the deadliest epidemic in history. Since 1981, AIDS has killed more than 25 million people, infected 40 million others and left a legacy of unspeakable loss, hardship, fear and despair. In highly developed countries, cocktails of powerful anti-retroviral drugs have largely altered the prognosis from certain death to manegable chronic illness. However, medicine offers less hope in the developing world where most victims are poor with little or no access to the proper medical care. Almost two-thirds of those infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa where poverty, ignorance and negligent political leadership extended the epidemic's reach and hindered efforts to contain it. AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa, which has accounted for nearly half of all global AIDS deaths. Besides the personal suffering of the infected and their families, the epidemic already has had devastating concsequences for African education systems, industry, agriculture and economies in general. Slowly, the epidemic has established footholds in the world's most populous countries. AIDS could kill 31 million people in India and 18 million in China by 2025, according to projections by U.N. population researchers. By then Africa, where the virus has wrought the most devastation, could reach 100 million. Global funding for HIV/AIDS increased from $2.1 billion to an estimated $6.1 billion between 2001 and 2005, and access to education and vital prevention and care services has improved. Yet in those countries affected the most, progress is still slow. If the U.S. government provided a fair share contribution to the global effort to stop AIDS, it would cost the average taxpayer 4 cents a day. By 2010, 8 million lives could be saved annually by investing in global AIDS and other health services. Between 2015 and 2020, $360 billion would be gained annually because of lives saved and increased economic growth. Additionally, most of the world's people suffering from AIDS are denied access to lifesaving medications because of corporate abuse of drug patent protection, high prices and unfair government policies. At the same time, many countries still spend more repaying debts to rich creditor nations than they currently spend on fighting AIDS and providing basic health care. IHMs in Action If you don't have Adobe Reader, you can download the latest version here.
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