HIV/AIDS will have destructive demographic effects in the future - UN report

The HIV/AIDS epidemic will have devastating consequences in the future in virtually every sector of society such as households, farms and economic growth, according to a new United Nations report released today.

"The Impact of AIDS," issued by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), says that without an effective vaccine or cure or better programmes to prevent its spread, HIV/AIDS - which has already killed over 20 million people since 1980 - will cause up to 100 million deaths in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025.

The disease also threatens the capabilities of health-care systems, jeopardizes the education of children, diminishes food security due to loss of farm workers, and weakens economies and stalls economic development because experiences workers are lost.

HIV/AIDS was found to be the most important population concern, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where the virus is preventing achievement of the Millennium Development Goals adopted by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000.

The report stresses that efforts to prevent new infections and providing treatment for the infected HIV/AIDS population are essential.

"The course of the HIV/AIDS epidemic is by no means pre-determined," the report concludes. "The eventual course of the disease depends on how individuals, communities, nations and the world respond to the HIV/AIDS threat today and tomorrow."