HIV/AIDS, human resources and sustainable development

At the heart of sustainable development lies the integration and balancing of social, economic and environmental priorities.

In a world where pockets of privilege exist amid vast deprivation, such a quest fundamentally requires improving the well-being of those who are poor, marginalised or excluded, and sustaining those improvements. None of this is possible unless human resources are placed at the centre of sustainable development.

Despite welcome progress in many respects since the end of the Cold War,the world remains cleaved by grave inequalities, deep deprivation and continuing environmental degradation. Those features are hardening in the ever-larger areas of the world that find themselves in the grip of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Hard-hit parts of the world are seeing socio-economic progress wane and, in some cases, reverse. By robbing communities and nations of their greatest wealth -
their people - HIV/AIDS drains the human and institutional capacities that fuel sustainable development.

These are not just temporary setbacks. HIV/AIDS is sapping vital components and attributes of potentially successful development strategies. By draining human resources, the epidemic distorts labour markets, disrupts production and consumption, and ultimately diminishes national wealth. Some countries bearing the brunt of such effects now face the prospect of 'un-developing' -of seeing their development achievements dissolve in the wake of the epidemic...contd.

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