AIDS not only causes immense human suffering, it is also a significant financial burden. The cost of prevention and care in the developing world will more than quadrupled to $ 9.2 billion annually by 05, according to an international group of experts. The report, published online June 22 by Science , was designed to guide discussions at a special session on HIV / AIDS of the General Assembly of the United Nations this week. "We wanted to give people [numbers] to work with," says economist Lori Bollinger Futures Group International in Glastonbury, Connecticut.
Omit the developed world, where the cost of AIDS is not a major issue, the Panel reviewed 135 nations, including low-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in middle-income countries like Brazil and Thailand. They estimated that about $ 4.8 billion will be needed to reduce the rate of infection While prevention programs such as the reduction of mother to child transmission and distribution of condoms. Adequate care and support for those infected, including supervision of orphans, will add $ 4.4 billion more. The study does not include funds to develop new drugs and vaccines.
So where should the money come from? The authors note that as of now, the countries studied are spending $ 1.8 billion annually on HIV / AIDS. To offset the shortfall, they suggest that a third to half of the money could come from local sources such as government, private sector and individual donations, with foreign funds, which make up the rest. But the ability of countries to pay will be different, the panel said sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, up to 80% may come from abroad, while countries like Brazil could pay 0% bill themselves [
"it was the first analysis that really got us pretty close to what the actual expenditure," says tropical medicine expert Paul de Lay the uS Agency for International development in Washington, DC from the main weakness of the study, he notes, is that it ignores the additional costs for basic infrastructure, such as building hospitals and training people. Although difficult to assess, these factors could add billions more to the bottom line, Lay said.
Related site
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV / AIDS
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