“HIV/AIDS is the worst epidemic in human history” UNAIDS
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV: Human Immunodeficiency Virus
AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
The HIV virus is spread through bodily fluids, most commonly through unprotected sex. The virus attacks the immune system and stops people being able to fight off diseases. Usually someone with the virus will start by being unwell more often than healthy people, with common illnesses such as thrush.
With time, diseases that can only take hold when someone has a weakened immune system - called ‘opportunistic infections’ - appear. This is what’s often called ‘full-blown AIDS’, meaning that the immune system is so destroyed by the virus that it can’t fight infection any more. People with AIDS die of one of these conditions.
The transition from being `HIV positive’ to having AIDS occurs when the amount of the virus in the system reaches a critical level, so that more complex diseases appear more quickly. There is no cure, and no vaccine. HIV/AIDS is a fatal disease, but with access to treatment life expectancy can be greatly extended.
The scale of the epidemic
Despite important advances over the last few years, the numbers living with HIV continue to grow.
AIDS has been most devastating in Sub- Saharan Africa, where at least 24 million people are currently living with HIV. Although it has only 10% of the world’s population, Africa is home to 60% of those living with HIV. In South Africa, one of the worst affected countries in the world, almost a fifth of those aged 15-49, and a third of pregnant women, are living with HIV.
The epidemic has a disproportionate impact on women; 60% of those living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa are women. Among young people the difference is even more marked: 75% of those affected are women.
India now has the largest epidemic in the world in the world with 5.7 million people living with HIV. Only 10% of those in need of treatment receive it. 3 2.3 million children are living with HIV/AIDS (90% of whom live in Africa) but until now they have been going unnoticed. Very little attention has been given to developing treatment that is suitable for children despite the fact that if left untreated, half of all infected babies die before the age of two. 4
WHO/UNAIDS
The Human Cost
“Never has Africa faced such a plague. We are confronting a deadly virus that has ripped apart the social fabric of societies across Africa, creating a generation of orphans who face an uncertain and frightening future.” Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy on AIDS in Africa
HIV/AIDS not only causes immense suffering to the people who are infected with, and eventually die from, the virus. It also has a major impact on the lives of those around them. The happiness, financial security and stability of the lives of children with HIV positive parents can be devastated by the virus, and the psychological burden of watching a loved one die in pain unnecessarily is immeasurable.
In those villages in Botswana and Zambia where infection rates approach 50%, and where there may be none left healthy except the very young and very old, it’s impossible to quantify the impact on the people left behind, especially those growing up without their families. The fear of HIV/AIDS can be overwhelming, and stigma and discrimination rife.
The Social and Economic Cost
“The national impact is devastating to all sectors of the economy” Global Business coalition on HIV/AIDS 5
HIV/AIDS has a devastating impact on development. As a sexually transmitted disease, HIV/AIDS mainly attacks younger people, in the prime of their working lives. This has a huge effect on the economy at all levels, as those who should be working are sick or dying instead, leaving empty factories, unattended fields and poor families with even less income. In 2001 it was estimated that average life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa had dropped by 15 years as a result of HIV/AIDS. 6
The epidemic places a huge burden on already overstretched healthcare and education sectors. In Sub-Saharan Africa over half of all hospital beds are now occupied by people with HIV-related diseases. Workforces have been decimated: Tanzania needs 45,000 more teachers to replace those lost to AIDS. Teacher absences due to illness significantly reduce the quality of education children receive and other children are taken out of school so they can work to support their families. 7
(3) UNAIDS, May 2006, 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic,
(5) Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, 2002, Leading the business fight against HIV/AIDS
(6) UNAIDS/WHO, December 2001, AIDS epidemic update
(7) UNAIDS, May 2006, 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic