“Seventy-five percent of those living with HIV/AIDS as of the year 2002 are in sub-Saharan Africa”(US dept. of state). While the long-term effect of the pandemic is unknown, studies to date paint a grim picture. According the to the World Bank, "Labor productivity is likely to drop, the benefits of education will be lost, and resources that would have been used for investments will be used for health care, orphan care, and funerals. Savings rates will decline, and the loss of human capital will affect production and the quality of life for years to come. By 2005, South Afr

access to HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs, with a focus on vulnerable groups (such as youth, women of childbearing age, and other groups at high risk)(World Bank).

Overall, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa has matured into a full blown international emergency. Although they face problems like easy transmission, unavailability of treatments, and poverty; several global and community based organizations are still making an attempt to constrain the breakout.

behavior, social marketing of condoms, preventing mother-to-child transmission, voluntary counseling and testing, treating other sexually transmitted diseases, and programs to address the needs of AIDS orphans and communities caring for them(U.S. dept. of State.).

While these drugs are incredibly effective, and increase the life span as well as the quality of life for those living with AIDS, most African governments cannot afford to spend the necessary money it would take to make these drugs more available to their citizens. For instance, “the United States spends $10 billion a year on research, treatment, and prevention of AIDS for its population of 274 million, while African countries, with a population of 543 million, spend about $165 million”(Kempe 87).

The issue of treatment, especially access to anti-retroviral drugs at affordable prices, has been at the forefront of the AIDS debate. With encouragement from the United States, a number of pharmaceutical companies have responded by agreeing to make their anti-retroviral drugs available in developing countries at greatly reduced cost. “While cost is an important issue and even reduced costs pose a challenge for very poor African countries, delivery/monitoring challenges associated with poor health care infrastructure are as important a consideration as cost”(U.S. dept. of State.).

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