[Socioeconomic aspects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in developing countries]

The assessment of the socio-economical aspects of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is difficult because of the relative scarcity of information. This study addresses mainly the socio-economic aspects of the AIDS pandemic in the inter-tropical zone of Africa, which, at the moment, constitutes the epicenter of the disease. In the absence of a possible radical treatment, the HIV infection prevalence should range between 25 and 30 million individuals by the year 2000 in the world, and the number of cases of AIDS, between 5 and 6 million, among which 4 to 5 million in the developing world alone. At the current rate, the overmortality rate related to AIDS in Africa is estimated at 0.1%, which should result in a drop by 30% of the Gross National Products advance (GNP). Each case of AIDS in Africa leads to a loss of productivity of 8.8 years. Already, losses caused by AIDS screening and its medical treatment in five countries of Central Africa should exceed the total amount of the foreign assistance received by each country. The estimated economic weight of the AIDS attendance is 15 to 20 times more heavy for a developing country than for an industralized one. Overcoming economically the cost of AIDS is an objective impossible to reach for deprived countries.