Target 8: Halt and reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are some of the biggest killers in the world. The impact these diseases have on developing countries is devastating, killing thousands of people per year.
These diseases can be just as dangerous to an economy as they can to a persons health. HIV/AIDS will slow down economic growth by 1% once 8% of the African
In 2003, 36 million adults and 2 million children were living with HIV/AIDS, 98% in developing countries and 66% in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Southern and Eastern Asia nearly one million people were infected with the disease, giving this region over 7, 000, 000 people living with HIV/AIDS.
Programmes offering information on how to avoid HIV/AIDS have been put in place, but they do not work as well as had been hoped, as they reach less than 1 in 5 people. This makes the future look grim because 45 million people are expected to come down with HIV/AIDS by 2010 - 29 million of these cases could be prevented by using information programs to educate people about HIV/AIDS. Between 5 and 6 million people need treatment for HIV/AIDS in low to middle income countries, but only 7% had been treated by 2003.
About Target 8:
The easiest way to prevent malaria is using insect repelling bed nets. Not only do the nets work, they are also cheap and easy to find. Unfortunately they are not widely used. In Vietnam, 16% of children sleep under the nets, but in Africa only 7 countries report more than 5% of people using the nets.
Tuberculosis can kill over 2 million people a year and many of its victims are between 15 and 45 years old. The disease has begun to spread again partially because the vaccine used to fight tuberculosis is less effective as there are now new strains of the disease which need a new vaccine. HIV/AIDS also makes the body less able to fight tuberculosis.
Although there are about 8 million new cases every year the World Health Organization (WHO) has created a way to diagnose and treat tuberculosis which cures almost 95% of cases, even in developing countries. Most countries are making fast progress with the help of the WHO. Unfortunately countries who's resources are stretched are finding it difficult to reach the 70% reduction target.
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are difficult enough to combat when governments only have to defeat one, but often all three are found in the same country making health care extremely difficult. Effective prevention and treatment programs will save lives, reduce poverty, and help economies develop.
