Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1, or HIV, causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. HIV/AIDS has a global impact, and as of 2010 remains a pandemic disease. AIDS was identified in the early 1980s and the viral cause--HIV--was isolated in 1984. According to AVERT, an international HIV/AIDS charity, there have been an estimated 25 million deaths from AIDS-related causes since 1981. In 2008, there were an estimated 2 million deaths from AIDS and 2.7 million new HIV infections; 33.4 million people are thought to be living with HIV/AIDS globally.
Worldwide Effects
In 2008, "97 percent of all new HIV infections occurred in developing countries", and "98 percent of all AIDS-related deaths occurred in those parts of the world" commented Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Agency of HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). According to the WHO/UNAIDS 2009 AIDS epidemic update, 71 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries in Southern Africa have the highest rates of HIV infection: between 10 and 30 percent of the population is infected with HIV in nine Southern African countries.
According to the same report, 11 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are in South and South East Asia, 6 percent in Latin America, 4.5 percent in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 2.5 percent in East Asia, 2.5 percent in Central Europe, 0.9 percent in the Middle East and North Africa, 0.7 percent in the Caribbean and 0.2 percent in Oceania. However, overall rates of new HIV infections have fallen by 17 percent between 2001 and 2008.
Economic Impact
According to AVERT, estimated direct costs for AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa are $30 per person per year; these costs exclude the use of antiretroviral therapies. However, public health spending is on average less that $10 per person per year in most African countries. When hospitalized, HIV-infected patients remain hospitalized four times longer than patients not infected with HIV. Although demands on health services are high in areas with high rates of HIV infection, there are also substantial costs for health care professionals who are also directly affected by HIV/AIDS; for example 17 percent of health care workers in Botswana died from HIV/AIDS between 1999 and 2005.
Impact on Children
HIV/AIDS also directly affects children. According to AVERT, based on 2008 data, there are an estimated 2.1 million children living with HIV/AIDS globally; 90 percent of these children are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Around 430,000 children became infected with HIV in 2008, and there were an estimated 280,000 AIDS-related deaths among children.
HIV/AIDS proves to be a deadly disease for children both directly and indirectly. HIV/AIDS can force children to leave school and care for sick parents with AIDS. Children with sick parents and children orphaned by HIV/AIDS may become heads of households, with the full responsibility of providing for the household. HIV/AIDS orphaned children lose educational opportunities and are often stigmatized.
