GLOBAL CHALLENGE

• In developing countries, HIV/AIDS is decimating entire communities. The virus not only affects people who are infected, but their extended social and economic networks--including friends, family and work.
• Of the 40 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS, 95 percent live in the developing world. Communities suffering high incidence of HIV/AIDS have a harder time lifting themselves out of poverty.
• Less than 10 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries have access to live-saving antiretroviral medications.
• In some of the hardest hit countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe, where 20-25 percent of the adult population is infected, AIDS is on track to claim the lives of approximately half of all 15 year-olds.

GLOBAL PROGRESS

• AIDS medications, which are widely available in the U.S. and other wealthy countries, allow people living with the virus to lead healthy, productive lives.
• Using large-scale production, AIDS medication can be produced for as little as $200 per person per year (about 55 cents a day for each person). 
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created to raise resources to help frontline programs in developing countries address the global HIV/AIDS pandemic with local solutions.
• The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was created to assist the 15 countries hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. This program has pledged to provide $9 billion over five years to these countries and to offer treatment to two million people living with AIDS.

ACTION OPPORTUNITIES

• Tell the U.S. to fulfill its financial pledge to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
  Between 2003 and 2005, President Bush requested a meager $200 million for the fund, falling short of U.S. "fair-share" contribution of up to one-third of the fund's operating costs. In 2006, the Global Fund will need at least $800 million from the U.S. to sustain its current programs. Sign a petition telling your representative in Congress to meet our fair share. 
• Advocate for access to medication
  Tell the United States trade representative to the World Trade Organization to lobby for intellectual property rights reform, which will increase access to life-saving AIDS medication in developing countries by making it more affordable.
• Donate to projects that fight the pandemic
  On World AIDS Day (December 1), raise money for the NetAid World Schoolhouse to support an AIDS-related education project in Uganda.