The Global Impact of HIV and AIDS

The number of people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 1999 was:
Sub-Saharan Africa: 23.3 million.
South Asia and South-East Asia: 6 million.
Latin America: 1.3 million.
North America: 920,000.
Western Europe: 620,000.
Australasia: 12,000.
The number of people living with HIV/AIDS is increasing at a dramatic rate.
For example, in South Africa about 4.7 million people were HIV positive in 2000, compared to 4.2 million in 1999 (out of a total population of 42 million).
Within Sub-Saharan Africa, HIV infection is more prevalent in women and the southern countries (e.g. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia).
For example, 15-25 year old adults living in Botswana in 1999
34% of women had HIV/AIDS.
16% of men had HIV/AIDS.
The statistics that describe the current extent, and likely expansion of the HIV epidemic involve such large numbers that they can become meaningless.
To try and address this problem, a team in South Africa applied the statistics to an imaginary South African town of 4000 people and described the impact that HIV would have on this community in 2000 and 2010. Their findings were as follows:

2000
2010
HIV positive
500
1,200
A new case of HIV infection every
5 days
2 days
Orphans due to HIV
5
200
HIV infection is mostly spread amongst sexually-active young adults. The consequences of this are devastating on the communities in which they live:
This group forms the bulk of the workforce.
In some communities the workforce has been decimated with associated economic collapse.
A large number of pregnant women are HIV positive:
For example, in 2000 24.5% of pregnant women in South Africa were HIV positive.
There is a huge impact on the most vulnerable members of these communities (the young and the elderly):
Children are being born with HIV contracted from their infected mothers.
By 1999 12.1 million children in Sub-Saharan Africa had been orphaned due to HIV.
There are fewer young adults to care for the elderly.
AIDS is the 4th most common cause of death in the World:
It is the most common cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In countries with adult HIV infection prevalences >10% it is predicted that there will be:
An average reduction in life expectancy of 17 years by 2010-2015.
The full impact of AIDS has yet to be realized.
Infection rates are unlikely to drop in the immediate future.
Especially in communities who have not adopted safer sex practices despite education campaigns.
Although there are drugs that can effectively control HIV infection for many years, delaying the onset of AIDS.
These are expensive and available to only a small proportion of patients infected with HIV.