Drawing on lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goal on HIV/AIDS

Drawing on lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goal on HIV/AIDS to reduce poverty and inequality in the post-2015 era

In September 2015, a new development agenda succeeding the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was adopted at the seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly. The new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is highly ambitious and complex with 17 goals, 169 targets and three dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental). To effectively implement this Agenda, lessons should be drawn from the rich experience of the MDGs including the necessity to build on synergies that may exist between the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goals1, 3, 8 and 101 are interlinked and relate, respectively, to eradicating poverty; improving health conditions; promoting inclusive economic growth and employment; and reducing inequality.

The present policy brief emphasizes the relationship between the specific health problem of HIV/AIDS on the one hand, and the two phenomena of poverty and inequality on the other. Its objective is twofold: recalling that the fight against HIV/AIDS is paramount to achieving the goals on poverty and inequality in Africa; and setting out some lessons learned that have proven useful in reversing HIV/AIDS trends. Section II presents the current prevalence and death toll of the disease. Section III reviews some socioeconomic impacts of HIV/AIDS on poverty and inequality, and explores the channels and mechanisms through which these impacts operate. Section IV analyses the correlation between HIV prevalence and poverty and inequality levels in Africa. Section V concludes with some lessons learned in combatting the disease.