People with AIDS don't suffer alone-the disease attacks their families and communities as well. AIDS has stripped out an entire generation of parents, farmers, doctors and leaders. 11.4 million African children have already lost one or both parents to AIDS. The disease is not limited to adults- 2.2 million children in sub- Saharan Africa are living with HIV, accounting for 90% of global HIV pediatric cases. Most of these children are infected by their mothers during childbirth because few HIV-infected pregnant women have access to antiretroviral medication that can drastically reduce mother-to-child transmission. Once born with the disease, only 13% of these children have access to HIV treatment. Beyond the risk to themselves and their families, millions of children are losing their teachers, nurses and friends too. Businesses are losing their workers, governments are losing their civil servants, families are losing their breadwinners. As a result, entire communities are devastated and economies that are already crippled by poverty, debts and unfair trade policies are further compromised.

While the moral case stands alone as a reason to act, richer countries also have economic and security reasons to fight this emergency. As we've seen in the case of Afghanistan, devastated, unstable states can become breeding grounds for terrorists. Seeing Africa as our neighbor, and acting now to stop the spread of AIDS, is not just the moral thing to do-it's the practical thing.

The good news is that we know what works. Successes in a handful of countries such as Uganda and Senegal have shown that HIV rates can be brought down through effective AIDS prevention campaigns. Education, media campaigns, and community work with the most vulnerable can stop people from getting the HIV virus in the first place. AIDS drugs also have the potential to make a huge difference to the impact of the pandemic. In the past year, people living with AIDS in Africa have dared to hope that they might get access to anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) that will keep them alive to work and care for their families. These drugs work so well that they produce a ‘Lazarus' effect-patients at death's door can be back at work within 2 months of starting treatment. Evidence shows that Africans taking the life-saving anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) adhere to their regimens much better than Americans or Europeans-the success rate is about 90%.

Africa is the region most in need of life-saving anti-AIDS drugs, accounting for 4.8 million of the 7.1 million people worldwide in need of ARVs. Significant progress has been made recently in increasing access to ARVs across the continent. Over a million people in sub-Saharan Africa are now on treatment, a ten-fold increase since December 2003. Despite this progress, however, only 28% of those in need of ARVs are receiving them. Significant barriers to treatment still remain, such as the price and availability of the drugs. The cheapest drugs are only 40 cents a day, but most Africans cannot afford this. It is also because of availability. In some places, only more expensive drugs are available, plus in many communities, there is not infrastructure or trained health care workers to monitor and administer the treatment. The scarcity of treatment results in doctors and families having to make the hardest choice of all-in the community, in the family, who will live and who will die.

WHAT MUST HAPPEN