FACTS OF THE MATTER

Posted by Todd Malkin 
on Sep 21, 2010
 

HIV/AIDS

 

Deaths linked to HIV/AIDS have declined by about 10 percent since 2004, when they peaked at 2.2 million worldwide.  The number of new HIV infections has dropped by about 30 percent since reaching 3.5 million in 1996.  These decreases are due to a dramatic rise in the availability of a drug regimen known as antiretroviral therapy.  It keeps the HIV infection in check and prevents it from developing into full-blown AIDS.

 

By December 2008, about four million people in developing countries were receiving antiretroviral medications, a tenfold increase since 2003.  The treatment has become more accessible over the past decade as the cost of the drugs has dropped from US$12,000 a year to less than $100.

 

Despite the successes against the epidemic, an estimated 2.7 million new HIV infections occurred in 2008, about two million people died because of AIDS-related illnesses that year.  The number of people living with HIV has grown from about 8 million in 1990 to more than 33 million today.

 

For every 100 people who receive medications for HIV worldwide, another 250 are infected, according to the United Nations.  An estimated six million HIV-positive people who should be in antiretrovirals under World Health Organization guidelines don’t have access to the drugs.  About 25 percent of pregnant women with HIV receive medications that prevent it from being passed on to their unborn babies.  More than 15 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

 

After years of increased funding to fight HIV/AIDS, advocates say monetary shortfalls are now forcing clinics to turn patients away in the countries with the most cases.  Estimates peg the cost of controlling the disease worldwide at about $22.1 billion.  There was a $6.5 billion funding gap in 2008, and tight budgets brought on by the global recession have made it worse.

 

Although sub-Saharan Africa is home to just 9 percent of the world’s population, two-thirds of all people infected with HIV/AIDS live there.  Declared a crisis by the World Bank on 2000, HIV/AIDS has caused per capita economic growth to fall by about 1 percent annually in half the countries in the region.  Studies show that health care costs in nations where the disease is most prevalent may increase by 10 times over the next several years.

 

In the United States, African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately affected by the disease.  In 2007, Africa Americans accounted for 51 percent of U.S. HIV/AIDS cases and Hispanics for 18 percent.  Those at greatest risk are in socially and economically marginalized communities.

 

Since 1999, The Rotary Foundation has awarded 217 Humanitarian Grants totaling more that $4 million to support HIV/AIDS projects.

-         Jason Grotto

the rotarian, Rotary’s Magazine

September 2010