The Importance Of HIV Treatment In Sub-Saharan Africa

Across the planet, there is no region more threatened by AIDS than sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout the countries of that region, this disease kills more people each year than any other illness. As a result, providing early and effective HIV therapy to the area’s afflicted population is essential.

Though it took some time for the world to grasp the magnitude of the problem, a renewed international support campaign was launched in 2003. Within three short years, the number of sub-Saharan patients receiving the necessary antiretroviral therapies increased tenfold. Since that time, the availability of these treatments has continued to grow.

Since the drugs make up as much as half of the cost of proper HIV treatments, their availability is critical to any effort to combat the disease. Over the last decade, the costs of these drugs has continually declined, even as the amount of foreign aid available for the fight continued to rise.

The good news about the increased coverage provided by this aid and the drugs it buys is that studies now confirm that the overall cost of treatment drops as coverage expands. With that good news, however, come some potentially worrisome signs for those who are committed to the fight against HIV.

With more and more governments around the world planning or implementing austerity measures, foreign aid of this nature may fall victim to budgetary concerns. If that happens, AIDS advocates fear that the resources available to them will be dramatically reduced. This, in turn would lead to less coverage for those who have the disease.

Unfortunately, any reduction in coverage may drive up the overall cost of therapy, which could result in a cycle of additional coverage reductions, even higher costs, and so on. A new emphasis on the importance of this therapy, however, may provide the impetus necessary to ensure that this important and life-saving treatment continues to be an international priority.