Converging Agendas: AIDS and Business

Abstract

505 WE NOW KNOW a tremendous amount about the scale and dynamics of the HIV and AIDS epidemics, but their daunting size can make it seem difficult to act. Globally, 2,600,000 deaths are expected this year alone, which means that 1 in every 20 people who died in the world in 1999 died of AIDS. We’re expecting about 5.6 million new infections this year— adding to the over 33 million people already living with HIV. As Desmond Tutu said at this forum last year, the numbers are numbing. Today, then, I hope we can focus on action. First I’m going to talk about the AIDS agenda and how this growing epidemic strikes productive adults hardest—the very people on whom the future of countries depends. I’m going to look at what needs to be done, not just in rich countries, but also in the developing economies, home to 95% of people living with HIV in the world, who bear the brunt of this ferocious disease. Then I’m going to turn to the business agenda, to the relationship between the AIDS epidemic and our chief engines of economic activity. Two decades into the epidemic, the global campaign against AIDS continues to be led by national governments and some very vigorous and innovative not-for-profit organizations. But I think it’s now time to mobilize the business community, and that’s the heart of what we’re talking about today. First, because it’s a fact that AIDS threatens the bottom line of business by undermining its work force and customer base. Second, business has core skills that can be used to great effect in the fight against AIDS. And third, for businesses keeping an eye on the future of the world economy, the fight against AIDS offers a real global opportunity to sharpen their message, improve their image, and extend their effectiveness. With this in mind, I’d like to sketch out the start of an agenda for action, which I hope will be discussed and developed during our time together this morning. I hope new partnerships between business, the public sector, and civil society will emerge from this process, so that the global campaign against AIDS can rest on three pillars, as business learns, in the words of filmmaker, Spike Lee, to do the right thing. In the past two decades, there have been many dozens of studies on the impacts of AIDS. Taken together, they clearly demonstrate that AIDS has a huge impact, not just in human terms but also in economic terms, and for three main reasons. First, there are lots of AIDS cases. Second, because the lion’s share, 80–90% of all AIDS-related illness and mortality, occurs among people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, which are the years when people are most productive and save for later in their lives. And finally, because the opportunistic infections that accompany AIDS (and I’m speaking about tuberculosis, pneumonia, meningitis, herpes, and so on) are so very expensive to treat.