Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

A mother and her new born child receive a bed net to prevent malaria transmission. Greater access to bed nets, cheaper AIDS drugs and other interventions have been credited with saving or extending millions of lives in the developing world. Photo by: Valentina Buj / CC BY SA Valentina Buj CC BY SA

HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases not only threaten the lives of millions of people around the globe. They also hamper economic growth and international development. They not only bring tragedy to one person but to the entire community and country as well.

This understanding has fueled a growing international battle against HIV and other major diseases. Lately, however, concerns about new approaches taken by some of the world’s largest donors, including the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief have also grown.

Ten years ago, world leaders set ambitious targets for reversing the spread of HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases by 2015 and achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment by this year. Progress toward achieving these and other Millennium Development Goals has been impressive despite the many challenges posed by conflict, climate change and financial crises.

But the aid community is also faced with a host of fundamental questions, such as: Will more people die as funding flatlines? Have we gotten more effective at negotiating lower drug prices, or more efficient at producing insecticide-treated mosquito nets? Should there be a greater focus on disease prevention or treatment? How can cultural and religious issues that affect the spread of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS be addressed?

World leaders are gathering later this year to take stock of issues on the fight against major diseases. The Sept. 20-22 United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York promises to revitalize and refocus the international community on proven strategies for educating women and the youth about the disease, reducing mother-to-child transmissions and delivering proper medication to people in need.

This is a unique opportunity for those on the front lines of the global fight against HIV/AIDS and other major diseases to tell policymakers about the situation on the ground, which approaches have proven successful and what challenges remain.

Tell us how your work is helping to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Your experience and knowledge is key to one of the most important initiatives of our time.

Join. Be Heard. Visit our MDG website and start posting your comments and success stories now!