Aids is one of the most wide spread and killer diseases in Africa. With no complete cure in sight, the disease is wiping out the most productive segment of the population. Facts:

• AIDS today in Africa is killing more people than the sum total of all wars, famine, floods and even malaria.
• In South Africa alone, an estimated 20 percent of the population is infected with HIV.
• According to a report released recently, because of AIDS, life expectancy in some African countries could be reduced to 30 years, and in several of the hardest-hit countries, life expectancy has already been sharply curtailed.
• Studies revealed new evidence on the significant impact of AIDS on economic growth, and the close link between poverty and AIDS. In the hardest-hit countries of southern Africa, research now indicates that national wealth will be reduced by 15-20 percent over the next 10 years as a result of HIV/AIDS.
• In South Africa, for example, GDP will be 17 percent lower by 2010 than it would have been without an epidemic.
• Lower economic growth and increased poverty threaten to form a vicious cycle, in which HIV/AIDS drives many families into deepening poverty, and at the same time poverty speeds the spread of HIV.
• A study in Zambia found that 65 percent of the households in which the mother had died dissolved, with the children usually going to live with elderly female relatives who were themselves very poor and unable to provide adequately for the children. As a result, these AIDS orphans were more likely to have to drop out of school and to have worse nutritional status than other children living in intact families. Lack of education and malnutrition would almost certainly condemn these orphans to poverty and social stresses when they grow to adulthood.

    Currently, about 24 million people in Africa currently live with HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to ravage the development prospects for Africans throughout the continent as it relates to productivity, health cost, dependency of one group (those with the virus) on another (those with out), number of orphans, etc. As a result of the epidemic, it is estimated that the majority of the working age population in Africa will be wiped out in a matter of years. Many countries in the continent have witnessed a significant reduction in their work force, and a number of studies have shown that services and production firms have been seriously affected as a result.

    As Nelson Mandela said it at the XIIIth International AIDS Conference to create "a partnership between business, communities, governments, and the international community" to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic … we must combine our efforts to provide a future for our children … We must place the science disputes on the back-burner and address the suffering and needs of the people with HIV/AIDS,"

    HIV/AIDS is not a health issue any more, it rather is becoming an international catastrophe to the extent that even the future generation will have to pay the price. A coordinated, international HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs and policies are now essential .. Let's open our minds and hearts. Remember: "WE ARE ALL AFFECTED IF NOT INFECTED!!". Did we wake up yet???

Here are some links on the web related to the AIDS epidemic for more information:

Up to date AIDS information on the Net (incl. HIV daily briefings)
UNAIDS/WHO Epidemiological Fact Sheets by Country
Recent country-specific data on HIV/AIDS prevalence and incidence, etc.
AIDS 2000 : Break the Silence
AVERT
AMREF
Beyond Awareness
CDC
CCISD
DirectFund
AEGIS HIV/AIDS
Red Cross HIV/AIDS Education
Red Ribbon
RATN
SECURE THE FUTURE™
Sumeria
UNAIDS
World Bank and HIV/AIDS
UN HIV/AIDS
UNDP Project: Sub-Saharan Africa
UNDP and HIV
WHO and HIV/AIDS
CDC Page on HIV/AIDS
JAMA HIV/AIDS Information Center
NIH Guide to HIV/AIDS information
CDC National Prevention Information Network
WHO's HIV/AIDS Surveillance
Comprehensive information on AIDS from the Washington Post
Yahoo! Full Coverage: Africa AIDS Epidemic

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