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AIDS KILLED MORE THAN 3 MILLION IN 2005
3 December 2005

The human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) and its deadly end-stage syndrome, AIDS, killed at least 3 million people in 2005. HIV also infected 5 million new people around the world, the largest single increase on record, though similar numbers were reported for 2003. The pandemic is still extremely deadly and is still spreading.

UNAIDS, a UN organization set up to tackle the political and practical issues surrounding the distribution of AIDS treatment and HIV prevention, reported a record year in AIDS' devastating impact [read the full report] on the developing world. At least 40 million, and possibly as many as 45 million people are currently living with HIV.

An effort by UNAIDS to treat 3 million by 2005 ("3 by 5") is making some progress, but not reaching its lofty target. The program aims to bring treatment to infected populations in poor, developing countries, where resources are scarce and infrastructure makes it difficult to get aid to the needy. As of early 2005, 3 by 5 had managed to establish anti-retroviral treatment (ART) for an estimated 700,000 of the world's HIV carriers.

As of 1 December, World AIDS Day 2005, UNAIDS estimated that 1 million HIV patients in "low- and middle-income countries" were receiving ART thanks in part to the 3 by 5 initiative. While this progress is important, it falls far short of the 3 million goal, and represents a significant slowing of progress on spreading HIV treatment.

Between July and December 2004, treatment levels were estimated to have climbed from about 440,000 to over 700,000 around the world. In the eleven months that have followed, the rise has been comparable, about 300,000, meaning the rate at which treatment is spreading is now just over 60% of what it was one year ago, and the total still represents only a small fraction of the real need.

Perhaps most shocking in light of these numbers is the revelation that in the 18 months since UNAIDS began its push to get long-term treatment to 3 million by 2005, treatment levels in Africa and Asia have tripled. 1 million are in treatment, but 3 million died in the first 11 months of this year. More than 11 times the number killed in south Asia's December 2004 tsunami, more than 40 times the number killed by the devastating October earthquake in Kashmir and Pakistan.

HIV/AIDS constitutes an ongoing, preventable pandemic, to which the world is still slow in responding. For instance, while US donations of aid have been generous and have increased to record levels after the turn of the century, the $15 billion promised by Pres. Bush to fight AIDS, which killed 3 million people this year alone compares unfavorably to the 35% increase in defense spending since 2001, when a single terrorist atrocity took nearly 3,000 lives.

The World Policy Institute reports [.doc] the US government has spent a combined total of $1,579.7 billion, or $1.5797 trillion, on its defense budget for 2002 through 2005, over 100 times what was pledged to fight AIDS over a longer period. The difference between the 2001 and 2005 budgets alone dwarfs the AIDS pledge: an estimated $97.6 billion. Those increases do not account for "supplemental" budget spending, used to finance wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without officially increasing the budget deficit.

AIDS is still a largely silent killer. Most of the world is either accustomed to the prevalence of the issue and assumes it is being dealth with or lacks even the most basic useful information about treatment options, let alone access to treatment. The world is still reacting slowly, on the whole, to the crisis, even as it deepens and worsens.

While aid agencies are working hard to gather the data needed to gain insight into real statistics in sub-Saharan Africa, the most affected region, the suspected increasing spread of the disease in Russia and China is harder to grapple with. Governments in those countries have a history of covering up unfavorable information about risks to public health, and until recently, the subject has been treated as almost taboo by Chinese authorities.

It can also be said that security risks are being misdiagnosed, at least in terms of priority. The attacks of 11 September 2001 on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania killed nearly 3,000 people in a very short span of time. War-on-terror era budget increases have amounted to nearly $263.7 billion over four years. This compares to proposed spending (not spent dollars) of $15 billion over 5 years to combat a pandemic that has killed some $11 million people over the four years spanning the "war on terror" to date.

And the US is the largest donor to the Global Fund for AIDS, giving more than 37% of funding for the initiative. But the Global Fund has spent only $672 million since 2001, and the entire 2005 budget for USAID, which oversees US relief spending in all areas, was only $795 million. While the US measures up favorably in numeric terms against current spending trends for AIDS relief, global spending as such is grossly inadquate.

What's more, AIDS now poses a grave security risk to international peace and stability. The entire sub-Saharan region is at risk of severe civil upheaval or political breakdown, depending on demographic, educational and economic circumstances in a number of highly at-risk countries.

In 2004, 43% of pregnant women in Swaziland were HIV positive, meaning that without intensive and systematic treatment, at least that percentage of new births would also carry the virus. Creating the very real possibility of a population which could, within a few years, see its HIV prevalence rate well over 50%. And UNAIDS reports that, at present, "Swaziland’s epidemic continues unabated."

Several nations of southern Africa face prevalence rates of over 30% of the adult population, and security in the region, and consequently, internationally, depends on preventing these nations from degenerating politically and socio-economically into failed states. [s]

UN REPORTS 5 MILLION NEW HIV CASES IN 2003
10 July 2004

Even while other diseases are sweeping into the headlines (Malaria - Polio - SARS - West Nile), the UN reports that HIV, the AIDS virus, is spreading faster than ever. According to the new report, the UN found 5 million new cases of HIV infection worldwide during 2003. That's the highest number of new infections for any single year since the virus was discovered.

The study also finds that 90% of those in desperate need of treatment are not receiving any. Even prevention measures are only accessible to 1 in 5, in the most at-risk populations. As a result, 3 million people were killed by AIDS during 2003, and the virus is spreading in all parts of the world. [Full Story]