Annex 8.1.4: Public-Private Partnerships for Neglected Diseases
Opportunities to address pharmaceutical gaps for neglected diseases
Priority Medicines For Europe and the World
"A Public Health Approach to Innovation"
Background Paper for Review
Public-Private Partnerships for Neglected Diseases:
Opportunities to address pharmaceutical gaps for
neglected diseases
A summary of the AIDS Pandemic by Geographical Region
By Elizabeth Ziemba, JD, MPH
5 August 2004
Please send comments to:
Elizabeth Ziemba: E.Ziemba@comcast.net
Dr Richard Laing: laingr@who.int
8.1.4-1
Annex 8.1.4: Public-Private Partnerships for Neglected Diseases
Opportunities to address pharmaceutical gaps for neglected diseases
A summary of the AIDS Pandemic by Geographical Region
From the IAVI website, http://www.iavi.org/need/aboutepidemic.asp, accessed 26 May 2004.
The human toll of AIDS is staggering
• At the end 2003, UNAIDS estimates that more than 40 million men, women and children
worldwide are living with AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
• From the first case recorded in June 1981 through the end of 2002, more than 20 million
people have died of AIDS. Although there are powerful medicines now available to treat
HIV infection, these drugs are not cures, and they remain out of the reach of most of those
who could benefit from them.
• Counting both those who have died and those currently living with the virus, in the past
two decades more than 60 million people have been infected.
HIV's spread shows no signs of slowing
• In 2003, 5 million people were newly infected with HIV. There were an estimated 14,000
new infections daily, or nearly 600 infections every hour every day.
• More than 95% of new infections are occurring in developing countries.
• Best current projections suggest that tens of millions more people will become infected
with HIV by the end of the decade, mostly in developing countries—unless the world
succeeds in mounting a drastically expanded, global prevention effort.
While southern Africa is hardest hit, large scale epidemics are emerging elsewhere
Asia and
the Pacific
7.4 million
1.0 million
adults and
children are
living with HIV
of these HIV
infections
occurred in 2003
India's national adult HIV prevalence rate of less than 1% offers little
indication of the serious situation facing the country. An estimated 4
million people were living with HIV at the end of 2003—the secondhighest figure in the world, after South Africa.
New behavioral data suggest that prevention efforts directed at specific
populations, such as female sex workers and injecting drug users, are
paying dividends in some states, in the form of higher HIV/AIDS
knowledge levels and condom use. However, HIV prevalence among
these key groups continues to increase in some states, underlining the
need for well-planned and sustained interventions on a large scale.
There remains considerable potential for the epidemic to grow in India.
HIV/AIDS in China shows no signs of abating. Official estimates put
the number of people living with HIV in China at 1 million. Unless
effective responses rapidly take hold, a total of 10 million Chinese will
have acquired HIV by the end of this decade—a number equivalent to
the entire population of Belgium.
8.1.4-2
Annex 8.1.4: Public-Private Partnerships for Neglected Diseases
Opportunities to address pharmaceutical gaps for neglected diseases
Eastern
Europe and
Central
Asia
1.5 million
230,000 of
adults and
children are
living with
HIV/AIDS
these infections
occurred in 2003
SubSaharan
Africa
26.6 million
3.2 million
adults and
children are
living with
HIV/AIDS
of these
infections
occurred in 2003
Although still in its early stages, the epidemic in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia is advancing rapidly.
In recent years, the Russian Federation has experienced an
exceptionally steep rise in reported HIV infections. In less than eight
years, HIV/AIDS epidemics have been discovered in most major cities
and almost all regions. Most of the registered infections have been
attributed officially to injecting drug use, reflecting the fact that young
people face high risks of HIV infection as occasional or regular drug
injectors.
By far the most affected region, sub-Saharan Africa is now home to
two-thirds of the worldwide HIV/AIDS caseload. The worst of the
epidemic clearly has not yet passed, even where rampant epidemics are
under way. In some southern African countries, national adult HIV
prevalence has risen higher than thought possible, nearing 40%.
A tiny fraction of the millions of Africans who are living with HIV and
in need of treatment are receiving it, be it antiretroviral medicines to
slow HIV's progression to AIDS or other drugs that can care for the
opportunistic illnesses that people with HIV develop because their
immune systems are compromised.
About twice as many young women as men are infected in sub-Saharan
Africa. Ignorance about sexual and reproductive health is widespread
among young women. In countries with generalized epidemics,
majorities of women age 15–24 have been shown to lack sufficient
knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Additionally, the combination of women's
economic dependence on and social subordination to men can make it
very difficult for girls and women to demand safer sex, even from their
husbands, or to end relationships that carry the threat of infection.
Millions of people are at risk of starvation in six sub-Saharan African
countries. Where the lack of access to affordable food is greatest, the
prevalence of HIV is also alarmingly high.
Latin America
and the
Caribbean
of
these infections
occurred in 2003
Twelve countries in this region have an estimated HIV prevalence of
1% or more. In several Caribbean countries, adult HIV prevalence rates
are surpassed only by the rates experienced in sub-Saharan Africa—
making this the second most affected region in the world.
Middle East 600,000 adults 55,000 of
and children are these infections
and North
living with
occurred in 2003
Africa
HIV/AIDS
Systematic surveillance remains inadequate, making it very difficult to
deduce accurate trends. It is possible that hidden epidemics could be
spreading in this region.
Highincome
countries
While HIV/AIDS was once considered a "white gay man's disease," a
larger proportion of new HIV diagnoses in several Western European
countries is occurring through heterosexual intercourse. For example,
more than half of the new HIV infections diagnosed in the UK in 2001
resulted from heterosexual sex, compared with 33% of new infections
in 1998.
(Western
Europe, North
America,
Australia, New
Zealand and
Japan)
2.0 million
adults and
children are
living with
HIV/AIDS
1.6 million
adults and
children are
living with
HIV/AIDS
200,000
80,000
of
these infections
occurred in 2003
In the US, latest available data show that the epidemic's shift into
poorer sections of society is continuing. African-Americans accounted
for an estimated half of new HIV infections in 2003, but constitute only
12% of the population.
8.1.4-3