AIDS - AIDS - How Does How Does it Affect it Affect

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The Problem...HIV/AIDS is the most devastating health crisis of our time. This global emergency is fueled by poverty and human rights abuses. It is exacerbated by weak health infrastructure and a history of neglect on the part of the donor world. More than 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS today. Twenty-five million men, women, and children have died already, and 15,000 people are infected every day. If current trends do not change, there will be more than 20 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone by 2010. At current infection rates, a fifteen-year-old boy in Botswana now has an 85 percent chance of dying of AIDS.

Some Statistics...

Twenty-five million men, women and children have died; more than 42 million people are now infected with HIV.1

Every day 15,000 new infections emerge and 8,200 people die from the disease.1

In many countries, our colleagues in the health professions have themselves succumbed to the disease, further compounding the crisis.1

1. Source: Health action AIDS Campaign http://www.phrusa.org/campaigns/aids/call.php

Some Statistics...By 2010, it is estimated that more than 25 million

children will be orphaned because of AIDS. 1

Africa has been most severely hit, but the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia will increase total annual deaths in the 15-49 year-old Asian population by up to 40 percent by 2010. 1

If this plague continues to spread at the current rate, it will kill more people in the first ten years of the 21st century than were killed in all the wars of the 20th century combined. 1

1. Source: Health action AIDS Campaign http://www.phrusa.org/campaigns/aids/call.php

Some Statistics...An estimated 850,000-950,000 persons in the

United States are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including 180,000-280,000 who do not know they are infected. 2

Approximately 40,000 new HIV infections occur each year in the United States, about 70 percent among men and 30 percent among women. Of these newly infected people, half are younger than 25 years of age. 3,4

2. Source: Fleming P, Byers RH, Sweeney PA, et al. HIV prevalence in the United States, 2000 [Abstract 11]. Presented at the Ninth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, Seattle, WA; February 24--28, 2002.

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV and AIDS - United States, 1981-2001. MMWR 2001;50:430-434. 4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV Prevention Strategic Plan Through 2005. January 2001.

Some Statistics...The estimated rate of adult/adolescent AIDS diagnoses in the United States in 2002 (per 100,000 population) was 76.4 among blacks, 26.0 among Hispanics, 11.2 among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 7.0 among whites, and 4.9 among Asians/Pacific Islanders. 4

From 1985 to 2002, the proportion of adult/adolescent AIDS cases in the United States reported in women increased from 7 percent to 26 percent. 4

Of the estimated 16,371 AIDS-related deaths in the United States in 2002, approximately 52 percent were among blacks, 28 percent among whites, 19 percent among Hispanics, and less than 1 percent among Asians/Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaska Natives. 4

4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2002;14:1-40.

Things that Exacerbate the Problem:Economic deprivation, chronic denial of health care

to the poor, and failure to assure the right to privacy also contribute to the growth of the pandemic.

The widespread discrimination as well as social, economic, and political inequality of women prevents them from protecting themselves from sexual assault or unwanted sex.

The stigmatization of women who are HIV-positive discourages them from being tested for the virus, thus denying them the limited treatment that is available for the disease and its complications.

Children, men who have sex with men, sex workers and their clients, injection drug users, persons confined to institutions and prisons, refugees, and internally displaced persons are also subject to the discrimination that fuels the disease.

Finding Solutions:As witnessed by Partners In Health in Haiti,

HIV/AIDS is now a preventable and treatable disease for men, women, and children, even in the poorest of settings. The price of anti-retroviral drugs has plummeted, treatment regimens are simpler with fewer side effects, and concerned activists internationally have fought for the political commitment to address this problem as never before.

An informed, motivated constituency of health professionals can change the course of this pandemic by educating their communities and policy makers about what works, and what it will take to save lives.

Things we can do as Advocates:Promotion of new trade agreements and interpretations

of existing agreements, to permit compulsory licensing, parallel imports, and production of generic pharmaceuticals that allow access to HIV/AIDS treatment at affordable prices.

Active and generous participations of businesses, foundations, and the philanthropic community in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

Advocacy at national and international levels for additional policies and programs that promote and defend human rights, including an end to discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS; protection of women and children from sexual assault and unwanted sex; assuring privacy rights; and guaranteeing equity in access to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs.

All Images Courtesy of AIDS in Africahttp://www.aidsandafrica.com/images_of_aids.htm