The Fund's HIV/AIDS Account was launched in June 2001, with an initial endowment of US$15 million, following authorization from the Ministerial Council, the Fund's highest policy-making body.

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  • HIV/AIDS Special Account

 

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HIV/AIDS Special Account

Background

AIDS is now the greatest threat to children in war-torn countries.
AIDS is now the greatest threat to children in
war-torn countries.

OFID's HIV/AIDS Account was launched in June 2001, with an initial endowment of US$15 million, following authorization from the Ministerial Council, OFID's highest policy-making body. Subsequent replenishments have boosted the Account to US$65 million.

Until fairly recently, AIDS was regarded almost exclusively as a health problem. Today, as the virus intensifies its onslaught, the wider ramifications – economic, social and political – are becoming devastatingly clear. And, as is often the case, it is the poor that are most acutely affected. As households lose their breadwinners and use up meager savings to pay for health care and funerals, untold hardship is forced upon communities already struggling to survive. Indeed, in some countries, conservative estimates indicate that the epidemic has raised poverty levels by 5%.

Impact on development

AIDS reduces growth, weakens governance, destroys human capital, discourages investment and erodes productivity. As such, it is slowly but surely undermining efforts to reduce poverty and improve living standards in the developing regions of the world. Already, it is estimated that the annual per capita growth in half the countries of sub-Saharan Africa is falling by 0.5-1.2% as a direct result of AIDS, a figure that could reach 8% in some of the hardest hit countries by 2010.

AIDS is now the greatest threat to children in war-torn countries.

For its victims, AIDS preys largely on young men and women – people in the prime of their lives who make up the productive backbone of society. Their deaths are decimating the labor force, with valuable, skilled employees being lost across all sectors. Many farming families, robbed of able-bodied members, are shifting to crops that are less labor-intensive but also less nourishing. The teaching corps is becoming severely depleted, reducing the quality and efficiency of education systems. And, above all, health services are crumbling as they grapple with an ever-increasing number of patients, yet with fewer health care personnel.

Attempts to contain the spread of the pandemic have met with limited success, with Uganda the only African country to have turned a major epidemic around. Its extraordinary effort of national mobilization pushed the prevalence rate among adults down from around 14% in the early 1990s to 8% in 2000. But this is the exception rather than the rule. Elsewhere in Africa, prevalence rates are in double digits, especially in southern countries of the continent where as many as one in five adults is HIV-positive.

OFID's intervention

Since launching its HIV/AIDS Account, the Fund has entered into partnership with a number of lead agencies to fight the pandemic. These include, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Since launching its HIV/AIDS Account, OFID has entered into partnership with a number of lead agencies to fight the pandemic. These include the ILO, the IFRC, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC and WHO. Joint initiatives are currently underway in countries across Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Arab World. OFID's primary areas of intervention cover prevention and awareness activities, care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS, and reduction of vulnerability.

Related links

Commitments in 2008: HIV/AIDS Special Account
Commitments in 2007: HIV/AIDS Special Account

Related press links