The Global AIDS Pandemic is a leading challenge of our time. It affects over 40 million people worldwide, yet the full extent of the impact of HIV/AIDS is still not completely understood. Since HIV was first documented in 1981, over 25 million people have died of AIDS. In 2005, 4.1 million people were infected with HIV, roughly the same number of people living in the state of Colorado.
What is HIV/AIDS
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. When people are HIV-positive, they have the virus in their cells. The virus multiplies in people’s living cells, making them highly susceptible to disease. For many, this virus eventually causes AIDS. However, thanks to scientific advancement, people with HIV who receive proper treatment can live productive lives for many years without developing AIDS.
AIDS is the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. AIDS is diagnosed upon a collection of symptoms or the onset of illness and infection. This means that multiple illnesses have developed due to the body’s weakened immune system. There is no cure for AIDS,and once it has been diagnosed, it severely impacts a person’s ability to live a normal life, ultimately leading to death.
Where is HIV/AIDS
95% of the cases of HIV/AIDS occur in developing countries. The virus affects the population that lives in extreme poverty - less than $1 per day - more heavily than any other sector of society. Of the 40 million cases of HIV, two-thirds of the cases are in Sub-Saharan Africa alone. It is a pandemic that affects each region in every continent of the world. The impact of HIV/AIDS is already greater than any other health crisis in human history.
Who HIV/AIDS Affects
Of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS, women account for 48% of all adults living with HIV and, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage rises to 59%. In the Carribean, North Africa, and the Middle East, women now represent 50% of people living with HIV/AIDS. Young people (15-24 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide with nearly 6,000 youth becoming infected with HIV every day.
In the most severly affected countries, adults between 20-49 are dying in larger numbers. Those are their most productive years in the workforce. The soaring numbers of deaths have a profound impact on family livelhoods, community vibrancy, and the national economy.
AIDS and Poverty
With one in every six people living on less than a $1 per day, families with household members infected with HIV experience increased medical costs, reduced income, and have fewer resources for education and family care. In addition, the loss of educated adults to AIDS reduces the number of knowledgeable resources to combat the disease and puts less experienced staff into critical decision-making, training, business, and policy positions.
Less than 10% of the total HIV/AIDS population has access to antiretroviral therapy, the medical treatment that allows them to lead productive lives . One of the main barriers to access is that the medicine is too expensive for the majority of those who are infected. Even the least expensive antiretroviral medication can cost approximately $3 per day.
Orphans, Girls and Education
As adults pass away from complications of the disease, the number of orphaned children increases as does the number of out-of-school youth. AIDS orphans are at risk of ending their education before completion or never entering school. This adds to an already grave situation where over 35% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa and 16% in South and West Asia do not attend school at all.
Girls’ education often suffers the most from the AIDS pandemic. Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are infected more often and earlier in their lives, which effectively limits their future potential. Young women 15-24 are between two and six times more likely to be HIV-positive than men of a similar age. This is due to gender inequality in education, status and power.
Discrimination and Stigma
Misconceptions about HIV/AIDS as well as associations people have with the disease’s transmission make stigma and discrimination a major challenge in fighting the AIDS pandemic. Discrimination, as defined by UNAIDS, refers to any form of arbitrary distinction, exclusion or restriction affecting people because of their confirmed or suspected HIV positive status. In fact, stigma and discrimination, when combined with poverty, are leading barriers for people to access the prevention, care, and support they need when affected by the virus.
Discrimination and stigma complicate an individual’s ability to deal with issues of poverty caused by HIV/AIDS. AIDS orphans are highly susceptible to the brunt of stigma and discrimination. In order to improve treatment and awareness about the epidemic, it is vital to overcome the silence and shame associated with the HIV infection.
Treatment and Prevention
By getting the word out about the facts and myths regarding the pandemic, HIV/AIDS education programs have been highly effective in curtailing the spread of the disease and preventing stigma and discrimination. The challenge: awareness programs require additional resources to implement.
Antiretroviral Therapy Medication, ARVs, can be used by people diagnosed with HIV to improve their health and prevent the onset of AIDS. The challenge is that medicine and treatment for the disease is expensive, hard to access, and requires more cost-effective strategies to address the global health crisis.
The Global Response
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an international organization that uses a multilateral approach to fighting the global AIDS pandemic. It is a promising model for redirecting resources to those who need them most. The problem, however, is that many donor countries have yet to keep their promises to provide funding for the Global Fund.
Without a cure or the availability of a viable vaccine, the HIV/AIDS pandemic will have claimed a total of 65 million lives by 2020. Current estimates show that the rate is increasing in every part of the globe, including the United States. Despite advances in treatment, most people with HIV/AIDS can't afford medicine or healthcare, speeding the impact of the disease. Through the Millennium Development Goals, the international community pledged to halt or reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.
Bonus Resources
International AIDS Vaccine Initiative
http://www.iavi.org
Center for Global Development
http://www.cgdev.org
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
http://www.theglobalfund.org
Sources
UNAIDS. 2006. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS Global Facts and Figures.
http://www.unaids.org.
World Health Organization. 2005. AIDS Epidemic Update.
http://www.who.int.
United Nations Development Programme. 2006.
http://www.undp.org.
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