AIDS Relief and the World's Richest People: An Opportunity for Partnership on AIDS Orphans and Health Workers

Chinua Akukwe
Worldpress.org contributing editor
December 17, 2007

The number of children 16 years old or younger who have lost one or both parents to AIDS has grown so quickly in many impoverished communities that cherished extended family support systems either are under severe strain or have collapsed. (Photo: Gianluigi Guercia / AFP-Getty Images)

The annual publication by Forbes magazine of the Forbes 400, a list of the richest people in the United States, and its lists of the richest people around the world provides evidence of the enormous wealth available to those profiled, most of them successful entrepreneurs. In the 2007 list of the World's Richest People, 946 named billionaires had a combined wealth of approximately $3.5 trillion. The collective net worth of the richest Americans in 2007 is $1.54 trillion. Each of these men and women has enough resources to make a major difference in the fight against the global epidemic of H.I.V./AIDS.

The United Nations agency coordinating the response to the global epidemic, UNAIDS, estimates a funding gap of $8.1 billion at the end of 2007. In the coming years, if the global response to AIDS continues at its current pace, the UNAIDS forecasts an annual cost of $15.4 billion in 2010 and $22.5 billion by 2015 in low- and middle-income countries. A continuation of the current pace of response, however, will mean that at least two-thirds of those who need lifesaving antiretroviral drugs will not be on treatment by 2010. By 2015, a similar proportion of people in need of lifesaving medicines will not be on treatment.

A unique situation now exists for significant intervention in the fight against H.I.V./AIDS by the richest people in the world. It is possible to turn the superstar entrepreneurs and richest people of our time into superstar philanthropists in the fight against AIDS. The key to the intervention of the super rich is to narrow down areas of potential impact on AIDS relief so that they know they are making a significant and measurable difference.

Urgent Issues in the Fight Against AIDS and the Ongoing Global Response

The UNAIDS estimates that the financing of AIDS relief in the last three years has come up slightly less than 50 percent of what is needed. Uncertainty over future funding slows down long-term planning in poor countries with a heavy AIDS burden. These poor countries already account for one-third of the expenditure in the fight against AIDS. The UNAIDS estimates that in the next decade, these poor countries are unlikely to increase their proportion of AIDS expenditure even with expected higher numbers of individuals needing clinical care and social support.