Pay more attention to silent killers

Aids spending rose from 3.4 per cent of all health aid to developing countries in 1990 to 23.3 per cent in 2007, from $0.2bn to $5.1bn.

President Obama has pledged to increase spending on Aids to 70 per cent of all US global health spending in 2010: US$8.6 billion, totalling US$63 billion over six years. And there is a dedicated UN agency, UNAIDS.

But much of this money has been poorly spent.

The Aids industry boasts about the millions of people on anti-retroviral treatment but almost no progress has been made in actually reducing the numbers infected globally— the only true measure of success.

Meanwhile, diseases that kill many more remain in relative obscurity.

The biggest killer in lower-income countries is chest infections such as pneumonia, accounting for 11.2 per cent of all deaths, mainly amongst children under five.

There is no UN agency for chest infections, almost no dedicated funding and only a sprinkling of NGOs.

Bizarrely, the first World Pneumonia Day was on November 2 this year, although this disease has always been a scourge of humanity.

The third biggest killer in developing countries, after heart disease, is diarrhoea.

This kills 1.5 million children every year, more than Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

Yet there is no World Diarrhoea Day and the disease attracts a fraction of the funding of HIV/Aids.

There is only one staff member at the World Health Organisation working exclusively on childhood diarrhoeal diseases.

Easy management

Fortunately, things are beginning to change.

The UN has started pleading for funds to improve health systems, so that “silent killers” such as pneumonia and diarrhoea can be better tackled.