A Global Epidemic

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) AIDS (Auto-Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is the advanced stages of HIV (human immunodeficiency syndrome) which is caused by a retrovirus that attacks the immune system of the person infected, greatly decreasing their potential life expectancy – by as much as 20 years in heavily affected countries – by leaving them highly susceptible to other infections and certain cancers. It is potentially spread mainly though sexual intercourse, the sharing of needles, blood transfusions, and from an infected mother to her child during pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.

AIDS is now considered a “global epidemic” by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. In 2007, UNAIDS in conjunction with WHO released an update on the AIDS epidemic, noting that approximately 33.2 million people worldwide are currently infected with HIV, about half of whom are women. In 2007, 2.5 million more people were infected with the retrovirus, almost 1 in 5 of those infections being of children under the age of 15. UNAIDS estimates that on any given day, 6800 more people are infected with HIV and 5700 die from AIDS, which they attribute mainly to inadequate access to prevention and treatment.

However, not all areas and people of the world are affected in the same way. The "Global South", particularly African countries, have been hit the hardest. According to Avert, an international AIDS charity, approximately 22 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, comprising approximately two-thirds of all HIV infections worldwide. 

Not all individuals within those countries are affected equally either. According to Keep A Child Alive, “AIDS has a female face almost everywhere in the developing world, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa," noting that among those 15-24, women are three times as likely to become infected as men. Children, whether or not they themselves are infected with HIV/AIDS, suffer from its consequences, as evidenced by the 13 million AIDS orphans that have been documented in Africa. The impact of AIDS on the world, then, clearly extends beyond those whom it infects directly – it affects the friends and families of its victims, as well as the economies and other institutions of their states.

In reaction to this epidemic, many national, international, and transnational organizations have sprung up to respond and attempt to slow – and perhaps – halt the spread of the deadly virus and its devastating consequences. According to the 2008 UN Report on the Global AIDS epidemic:

The epidemic has heightened global consciousness of health disparities and catalyzed unprecedented action to confront some of the world’s most serious development challenges. No disease in history has prompted a complete mobilization of political, financial, and human resources. (p. 13)

The following timeline from this report illustrates a few of the major mobilizations concerning AIDS that have occurred since 1985:

In addition to intergovernmental organizations such as the UN and WHO, many NGOs – including The Global Fund, the ONE campaign, and Keep A Child Alive – have emerged to try and improve prevention, education, and treatment of HIV/AIDS. In 2000, the United Nations incorporated combating HIV/AIDS as Goal #6 of the Millennium Development Goals, declaring the need to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS and to achieve universal access to treatment by 2010. This action was followed up by a Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS taken up by the UN General Assembly. At the transnational level, many yearly or semi-yearly events have been organized to raise awareness and bring AIDS activists together, notably World AIDS Day and the International AIDS conference.