AIDS: More Than A Disease

According to a recent study conducted by the World Bank, "Scholars have seriously underestimated the economic impact of HIV and AIDS, which could cause economies in the worst-hit nations to collapse in two generations unless countries take urgent steps to fight the disease." The report also notes that in South Africa alone, where more than 5 million people are infected with HIV, "if AIDS progressed unchallenged, by the year 2050 -- roughly in two generations -- the per capita income per family would be half of what it was in 1990." Global health specialists assert that the idea of looking at the projected socio-economic impact of AIDS is not a new one, and that AIDS at the present time is "a catastrophe" in itself.