The AIDS pandemic has been described as the greatest public health challenge the world has ever faced. And the epicenter of this crisis is Africa, where AIDS is the leading cause of death.

But, it is a preventable and treatable disease. In fact, the difference between life and death can come down to just two pills a day for a cost of around 40 cents a day. That’s 2 pills a day that could save the lives of the estimated 4,100 men, women and children who

die in sub-Saharan Africa every day – people living with HIV AND AIDS who cannot afford to buy the medicine they need to stay alive.

68% of all HIV positive people live in sub-Saharan Africa, even though it is home to only 11% of the world's population. That’s 22.5 million people – more than all the people living in New York, equal to two-thirds of all of Canada’s population and more than the entire population of Australia.

And unlike other regions, the majority of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are women – a whopping 61%.

Halting the spread of HIV is a key issue in fighting this pandemic and as a result, Global Fund and (RED) money finances both treatment and prevention activities. An estimated 5,205 Africans contract HIV every day including 1,000 African children. In total, 1.9 million people contracted HIV in sub-Saharan Africa during 2007.

THE CONSEQUENCES OF AIDS

HIV AND AIDS pose an enormous hurdle to economic development in Africa. Typically, the disease affects people in the most productive years of their lives. So, men and women who need to support their families can no longer do so, or worse, they die. In fact, an estimated 12.1 million African children under the age of 18 have lost at least one parent to HIV and AIDS. The result is families left severely handicapped by the disease, or in the worst case, households led by children. Children left without parents must fend for themselves.