AIDS: Science at a Crossroads

SOME KEY FACTS
HIV spreads from person to person through unprotected sexual intercourse, vaginal or anal, through
sharing of contaminated needles or other transfusion equipment, in infected blood, and from mother to
child before and during birth and through breastfeeding.
An estimated 19.5 million people have been infected with HIV since the beginning of the pandemic.
Nine-tenths of the world's cases of HIV and AIDS are in developing countries.
It is unlikely that a successful vaccine against HIV will be available in the next 10 years.
There is no cure for HIV or AIDS. The few clinically-tested treatments which are available to help treat
people with AIDS are beyond the health budgets of developing countries.
The direct medical cost of treatingAIDS is estimated at US$ 32,000 per capita in the United States. In
Zambia, it is about US$ 374.
In the North, political commitment to tackling AIDS may be faltering. The next few years will be
critical in determining whether AIDS remains high on the world's agenda or whether it is forgotten.
HIV infection dramatically increases the chances of developing tuberculosis disease, from 10% in a
lifetime to 8% per year.
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) enhance the efficiency with which HIV spreads from person to
person, partly by increasing inflammation and bleeding in the genital area.
According to a 1990 WHO estimate, there are at least 250 million new cases of STDs worldwide each
year. In the developing world, STDs are among the leading causes of disease burden.

1 - Panos Briefing: AIDS: SCIENCE AT A CROSSROADS