Inter Press Service - November 28, 2001
Gustavo Capdevila

Since it was first identified 20 years ago, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has claimed the lives of more than 20 million people. Today, there are some 40 million people carrying the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the precursor to AIDS, and 2.7 million of them are under 15.

UN figures indicate that approximately five million people will have become infected with HIV in the course of this year.

HIV/AIDS has become the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa, and is fourth worldwide, after cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and cancer.

In the countries hit hardest by this worldwide epidemic (or pandemic), it is threatening human welfare, economic development and social stability on an unprecedented scale, according to specialised agencies of the UN.

The economic impacts of AIDS are evident in the sub-Saharan region of Africa, where economic per capita growth is falling by as much as 1.2 percent each year.

By the year 2020, Africa's most affected countries could lose more than 20 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), says Winnie Mpanju-Shumbusho, of Tanzania, director of HIV/AIDS strategy at the World Health Organisation (WHO). Internationally, sub-Saharan Africa is bearing the brunt of the pandemic, with an estimated 3.4 million people infected with HIV in 2001. This figure brings the total number of Africans testing HIV-positive to some 28.1 million.

But the infection rate is rising most rapidly in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where the total HIV cases reported has skyrocketed from around 11,000 in 1998 to 129,000 by June of this year.

The highest rate of prevalence among adults - one percent - is found in the Ukraine, reports Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Piot, who presented the UNAIDS and WHO annual summary on the state of the pandemic, warned that if current trends continue, the disease would continue to be the cause of enormous human suffering but would also have devastating economic consequences.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, an array of factors favour the expansion of HIV/AIDS, says the report presented Wednesday. Massive unemployment and economic insecurity afflicting much of those regions play an important part in the spread of the disease there.

While social and cultural norms are becoming increasingly liberal, public health services are falling apart, according to the UNAIDS/WHO study.

"AIDS is decimating the ranks of civil servants in the worst affected countries," stated Mpanju-Shumbusho as she presented the report in Geneva, where the two UN agencies are headquartered.

"The loss of these highly skilled workers places essential government services under tremendous strain, and may compromise the ability of the state to ensure law and order," she said.

One of the examples the UN official mentioned was the impact on sub-Saharan Africa's education systems, "which are strained to the breaking point by the loss of teachers."

In 1999 alone, 860,000 children lost their teachers to AIDS in Africa. By the late 1990s in the Central African Republic, more than 100 schools were forced to close because so many teachers had died of AIDS-related causes, said Mpanju-Shumbusho.

HIV/AIDS has claimed the lives of more than seven million rural workers in Africa since 1985, creating a threat to the continent's food supplies. An estimated 16 million more will die from the epidemic in the next 20 years.

The UN experts acknowledge that people from all income levels are vulnerable to the economic effects of HIV/AIDS, but point out that the poor feel the impacts much more acutely.

In Botswana, where HIV prevalence among adults surpasses 35 percent, it is predicted that a quarter of the families will lose their economic means of support within the next decade.

This will cause a rapid increase in the number of families living in poverty and indigence in Botswana and other countries where there is high HIV prevalence, says Peter Ghys, an epidemiologist with UNAIDS.

Economic hardships in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 20 years have left 75 percent of the population subsisting on less than two dollars a day.

In the wealthy, industrialised countries, meanwhile, HIV generally has shifted towards the poorest communities, with young women being the most vulnerable sector of the population.

Young adults in the United States who belong to an ethnic minority, including males who engage in sexual relations with other males, are seeing infection rates that are higher than they were five years ago.

Just 12 percent of the U.S. population are African-Americans, but they represented 47 percent of the AIDS cases reported in the country last year. In the United States, young disadvantaged women, particularly African-American and Hispanic women, present HIV infection rates that are much higher, and at a younger age, than their male counterparts.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has already infected more than 60 million people worldwide, "will get worse before it gets better," warns UNAIDS chief Piot.

To put the brakes on the spread of the disease, the UN agencies are urging countries to establish effective prevention programmes immediately, particularly initiatives aimed at reducing the spread of HIV among young people. (END/IPS/WD/HE/TRA-SO LD/PC/MJ/01) .
011128
IP011115

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2001. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2001. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .