World AIDS Day 2008

HIV/AIDS is a disease that afflicts young adults. And young adults are parents. When a parent gets hit with HIV/AIDS it's not only they who suffer. It's possibly their children who might have to be taken out of school because they need to care for the family or because the family has less resources now to send them school. Furthermore, those children are denied not just an education, but the love and caring that they might get from their parents because their parents might die prematurely. This means that the effects of HIV/AIDS aren't just on the current generation but are much longer term. This undermines the way in which societies grow in the long run by accumulating human capital. So you might have a whole generation of people whose parents were affected by AIDS who are less educated and in turn are less able to educate their children. The transmission mechanisms could go on for generations.
     —Shanta Devarajan, World Bank Economist

December 1, 2008—Why is World AIDS day important? According to Miriam Schneidman, Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank, it helps to sustain commitment and share practices. It also plays an important role in engaging communities and civil society groups, who are critical players in the fight against AIDS.

December 1, 2008, marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. This year's theme is: Lead. Empower. Deliver.

Where Are We Now?*

In the past few years, there has been substantial progress in reducing the global toll of AIDS:

• From 2005–2007, the percentage of HIV-positive pregnant women receiving antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) rose from 14% to 33%.
• During this period, the number of new infections among children fell from 410,000 to 370,000.
• Several countries, including Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Cuba, Botswana, Cuba, Georgia, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Thailand, have achieved more than 75% coverage of PMTCT.
• In 2007, nearly 200,000 children with HIV in low- and middle-income countries received antiretroviral therapy, versus 127,000 in 2006.
• By the end of 2007, nearly a million more people were receiving treatment in low- and middle-income countries, bringing the total number of recipients close to 3 million—a more than seven-fold increase over four years

There is still a lot to be done:

• Around 6.7 million people who need life-saving medicines still do not have access to them.
  
• One-third of countries lack laws that protect HIV-positive people from discrimination.
  
• AIDS continues to be the leading cause of death in Africa.
  
• It's difficult to diagnose HIV in infants, which impedes progress.
• Young people aged between 15–24 account for 45% of all new HIV infections in adults.

*Data source: UNAIDS.

The global financial crisis poses a new challenge to the fight against AIDS. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said that as we struggle through the current financial maelstrom, we need to ensure not only that those on antiretroviral therapy remain alive for decades to come, but also that the millions who are not on treatment will have access.

"Interrupting that at this time, or slowing down, would be not only be a disaster for millions of people," he said, "but it would also actually undermine the huge investments that have been made over the last few years, and where the return on the investment is starting to come out only now."

Awareness, Awareness, Awareness

Alarmingly, national surveys conducted by UNAIDS in 2007 found that only 40% of young males and 36% of young females had accurate knowledge regarding HIV. This has got to change. Now, more than ever, it's time for young people to take a lead in the fight against AIDS. Learn the facts, spread the word, and do what you can to increase knowledge of AIDS among your peers.

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