Imagine losing one or both of your parents. Imagine, too, knowing that your parents’ deaths could have been prevented and you begin to understand the trauma and the frustration the HIV/Aids epidemic is generating for too many young people in Africa.
Over eleven million children in Africa under the age of fifteen have already lost one or both parents to HIV/Aids and by 2010 it is estimated the figure will have risen to 21 million. It is, however, the injustice of four Africans dying of Aids every minute while in richer countries anti-retrovirals make it possible for people with Aids to return to work, that makes the case for further action to tackle HIV/Aids in developing countries even more compelling.
The HIV/Aids epidemic is a terrible human catastrophe and the figures behind the epidemic are terrifying – nearly 28 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are thought to have HIV; six thousand die from Aids every day. The levels of infection are currently accelerating in India, south-east Asia, and the newly independent states. By 2005, more than 100 million people worldwide will be HIV-positive. More than 95 percent of HIV-infected people live in the developing world and 70 percent of them in Africa alone.
In those countries hit hardest the epidemic is jeopardising economic growth and social and political stability. At the same time it puts an enormous strain on public services such as health clinics and schools at the very time when such services are vital. The number of teachers in Malawi dying from Aids at the moment is higher than the number of teachers being trained. At a family level, the epidemic can take away the main breadwinner or the main carer, leaving young children orphaned or forced out of school to take on caring responsibilities.
The UK is working to tackle HIV/Aids in over 40 countries. In India, for example, we are working with the National Aids Control Organisation, supporting major programmes to halt the rise in infection. In South Africa we’re supporting innovative media campaigns, working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and in Malawi, Uganda and Mozambique we’re working with governments to provide resources to support wide-ranging responses to the epidemic.
Indeed the UK is the second largest bilateral donor on HIV/Aids. Over the past six years we’ve increased our funding from £38 million in 1997/8 to more than £270 million last year. We’ve also spent over £1.5 billion helping to develop healthcare since 1997 and have supported the formation of the Global Fund to fight the epidemic and malaria and TB.
However, much more needs to be done. Many countries are still not taking the epidemic sufficiently seriously and the United Nations estimates that developing countries will need almost $15 billion to tackle HIV/Aids by 2007 compared to just $4.6 billion at the moment. In addition, the co-ordination between countries donating resources and expenditure often leaves a lot to be desired, which is why the UK and the US have agreed to work together in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Zambia to stimulate closer cooperation on preventing the spread of the disease and on the treatment and care of its victims.
People living with HIV/Aids continue to be discriminated against and the very poorest countries are not able to take advantage of lower drug costs because they do not have good enough health systems to administer the drugs. Where drugs are available there are often not enough medics to ensure the very poorest get access.
HIV/Aids represents arguably the most immediate threat to tackling poverty and achieving development. For those of us in the Labour movement committed to social justice, the challenge the HIV/Aids epidemic poses is a call to action we simply cannot ignore. While the international community is responding, more - much more - still needs to be done.