The Global Economic Crisis and HIV Prevention and Treatment Programmes: Vulnerabilities and Impact

The global economic crisis threatens recent gains in health and poverty reduction in developing countries. What is the effect of the crisis on HIV programmes, especially in high HIV prevalence countries? What are the possible consequences? What can be done to avoid negative impacts? Advanced economies are projected to suffer deep recessions in 2009, with their gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by 5% on average—the first such fall in 60 years. This is generating fears that official development assistance, and in particular resources for social sector spending, including funding for HIV services and commodities, would remain flat during the next few years.