ABSTRACT
This chapter is about the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on national development goals and the living standards of individuals, households, and communities in the developing world. It is now known that in resource-poor countries, the impact of a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the population could be detrimental to economic growth and poverty reduction objectives, as well as pose obstacles to the satisfaction of essential human needs such as health, education, food, and social inclusion.1 We have also seen in the previous two chapters that HIV-related discrimination leads to violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms, and that the threat posed by the epidemic to human and state security could undermine political institutions and democratic governance. The link between the HIV/AIDS impacts and a wide range of development problems and concerns in the economic, social, and political spheres has led to the conceptualization of HIV/AIDS as a development challenge. Furthermore, development problems which are linked to the impact of the epidemic on national development goals and on households and communities are themselves conditions that contribute to the spread of HIV and impede access to treatment of AIDS, thereby adding to the enormity and complexity of the challenge.
