HIV/AIDS and Business in Africa and Asia: A Guide to Partnerships

Abstract

Between 34 and 46 million people worldwide are now living with AIDS, with approximately 4.2 to 5.8 million new infections in 2003. While Sub-Saharan Africa is home to roughly two-thirds of these infections, the epidemic is growing quickly in other parts of the world, including three of the world's largest countries: Russia, China and India.' Public health experts, economists, and demographers agree that this is a problem of massive proportions, likely to have a disastrous impact on human lives, as well as on fragile economies. According to UNAIDS, the virus will have killed 3 million people in 2003. For all of these reasons, businesses should have a natural interest in HIV/AIDS since the disease will have wide-ranging effects on their workforces, and more broadly, on their customers and the long-term demand for their goods and ser-vices, particularly in the face of globalization efforts. A recent World Economic Forum survey of nearly 8000 businesses covering 103 countries provides evidence for this intuition. The survey demonstrated 47% of firms felt that HIV/AIDS is having or will have some impact on their business. Clearly, businesses operating in places like South Africa with an adult prevalence rate of 20.1% — the highest in the world-cannot ignore HIV/AIDS.