How Hiv/Aids Affect Society

HIV/AIDS affects the economic well-being of families, businesses, and societies in many ways. When people become ill and die, society loses not only those people but also their productive potential. They no longer hold jobs, manufacture goods, provide services, or support their families. Families lose their breadwinners; the nation loses people who contribute to the well-being of society.

As families use their time and money to care for ill members, their energies are diverted from working to provide income or farming to provide food. Not only the present but also the future is affected, as family members discontinue education because of the financial needs of the family. Even burying the dead makes life more difficult for families and society.

High unemployment and high rates of infection among skilled workers bode ill for countries’ ability to keep social supports intact. Studies of teachers and health care workers, for example, indicate that many in those professions have been infected with HIV. Society faces the challenges of having many of its productive members sick or dying, leaving few people to care for children and the elderly. In many countries, the number of people affected by HIV/AIDS is overburdening health care and social support resources.

The effect of HIV/AIDS on broader indicators of development, such as life expectancy, has been profound. In the 1950s, a child born in southern Africa had a life expectancy of 44 years. By the early 1990s, that figure had risen to almost 60 years. But life expectancy is expected to drop to 45 years between 2005 and 2010 because of the toll that AIDS has taken. Poor households are being pushed deeper into poverty. The effects of the AIDS epidemic will be felt for generations, because so many children are being deprived of adequate nurturing, nutrition, education, and good role