Global challenges and opportunities in fighting HIV/AIDS and neglected diseases

Health Affairs thematic issue on global health examines looming financial pressures in the world's response to HIV and AIDS; offers solutions for combating neglected tropical diseases and saving millions of lives

Bethesda, MD -- Responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and tackling so-called neglected tropical diseases are the focus of the November/December 2009 edition of Health Affairs. The articles, by leading global health experts from around the world, show that although these challenges differ dramatically, rising to meet them could save millions of lives.

Increasing prevalence of HIV infection, coupled with the current global economic slowdown, portends a drastic funding shortfall for addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic in both the short and long run. By the year 2031, when the pandemic enters its 50th year, funding needed for developing countries could reach $35 billion annually -- three times the current level, according to a paper coauthored by Robert Hecht. Even then, more than 1 million people will be newly infected each year; some 33 million people worldwide are infected currently.

"We are staring at the face of a huge crisis," says Hecht, managing director of the Results for Development Institute in Washington, D.C. "However, we have an opportunity and an obligation to mitigate this crisis by making difficult but necessary policy choices now." He and his coauthors predict that by investing in high-impact prevention and efficient treatment efforts, world policymakers could cut the cost of fighting the pandemic by more than half.

Hecht's paper is one of a series of articles in this issue of Health Affairs devoted to the economic, political, scientific, and ethical challenges facing world policymakers in their response to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention. The articles, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, focus on steps policymakers can take to change the dynamics of the pandemic so that millions of lives will be saved, infections prevented, and overall costs made more affordable.

Other highlights include the following: