HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases

The Challenge

Although HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria are three treatable and preventable diseases, they are having a devastating impact in the world's poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90% of malaria deaths, two-thirds of all people living with HIV, and nearly one-third of all TB cases. The human impact of these three diseases is undeniable, but their social and economic impacts are also severe and measureable. In sub-Saharan Africa especially, AIDS threatens to wipe out an entire generation during its most productive years. Businesses are losing their workers, governments are losing their civil servants, and families are losing not only their loved ones, but also their breadwinners.

The Opportunity

The tools to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria are affordable, effective, and already saving millions of lives each year. For example, thanks to successful efforts to push down the price of medication and the establishment of programs such as the Global Fund and PEPFAR, an HIV diagnosis is no longer a death sentence in the world's poorest countries. In 2010, more than 5 million Africans were receiving HIV/AIDS medication, up from only 50,000 people in 2002. Treatment for tuberculosis has also become more available -- 36 million cases of TB were treated between 1995 and 2008.

Progress is also being made in preventing the spread of these three diseases. 230 million bed nets to protect families from malaria have been delivered by the Global Fund alone, and 1.3 million pregnant women with HIV received medicine to prevent passing the virus on to their babies (up from only 150,000 women in 2004).

Learn more, read the full HIV/AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases Issue Brief...