AIDS :: HIV Diseases Health Medical Essays

supportsub-Saharan Africa is the region of the man that is roughly affected by HIV/AIDS. An estimated 26.6 billion tidy sum are vivacious with HIV/AIDS and approximately 3.2 million new infections occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2003. In dear the past year the epidemic has claimed the lives of an estimated 2.3 million Africans. Ten million young people (aged 15-24) and almost 3 million children under 15 are living with HIV. An estimated eleven million children beat been orphaned by AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is not just an African problem this is a world wide concern. It is estimated that over 50 million world wide have contracted the HIV/AIDS virus. (www.avert.org/aafrica.htm) Why during such an epidemic are drugs not reaching the people who need them? There are a few issues surrounding the diffusion of these and other drugs including commercialise size, patent laws, compulsory licensing, and price discrimination. Pharmaceuticals have vie a key role in imp roving health world wide. Health trends in the 20th century have had significant progress due to vaccines and other proficient advances. It has been shown from 1962-1987 that a 74 percent filiation in infant mortality rates can be attributed to technological advances. (Journal of Economic Perspectives) However, distribution in develop countries is still in terrible need of improvement. A major reason for lack of access to pharmaceutics in growing nations is the size of the market and the lack of revenue that can be obtained from consumers there. As shown in Table 1 from the Journal of Economic Perspectives the US holds almost 40 percent of the worlds pharmaceutical market while Africa has only l percent. The market in Africa and other developing nations is significantly smaller, Drug developers often do not even berate to take out patents in small, poor countries (Journal of Economic Perspectives p70). Diseases in developing countries mainly infectious and parasitic dis eases differ from the noncommunicable conditions found in more developed countries, the high cost of research and development and the low payback from consumers in developing countries deter pharmaceutical companies from investing clip and energy into diseases that mainly affect developing nations. Developed nations exit an intermediate of $4,000 per person per year on health while developing nations spend on average less than $20 per person. Such a sizeable gap in health spending does not give pharmaceutical firms an incentive to provide research and development in these areas.