The Role of Parliamentarians in HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention

Abstract

The spread of the HIV epidemic around the world will cause enormous psychological, social, and economic losses, and have a serious impact on human development. Multi-sectoral programs, in response, should be accorded priority in social development planning. At the household level, studies supported by the UNDP and the Asian Development Bank in Thailand, India, and the Philippines show that not only are HIV/AIDS deaths different in the nature of their impact on families from other adult deaths, they also present overwhelming economic and social shocks—sending households into both short- and long-term crisis. Social protection and social welfare programs need to be expanded urgently to absorb the impoverishment of household and communities which this will cause.