The increased presence of HIV/AIDS has also given way to an extensive tuberculosis crisis that stands to leave one billion people infected in the next two decades.
Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) spoke of the scope of the two diseases at a two-day conference in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
The group aims to promote joint treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and Tuberculosis (TB), the two leading killer diseases in the world. AIDS claims the life of 8,000 people worldwide each day with 5,000 more dying from TB.
TB is the most common infection among - and the leading killer of - people living with HIV/AIDS. The 'deadly interaction' of TB and HIV threatens to evolve into a global public health crisis and called for urgent action to stop the co-epidemic, said Mario Raviglione, head of the WHO fight against TB. The danger is compounded by the appearance of drug-resistant TB strains.
Of the estimated 25 million Africans now living with HIV, about eight million also harbor the bacillus that causes TB. Each year, 5-10 percent of these eight million co-infected people develop active TB and up to four million will develop the disease at some point in their lives, the WHO said. THe group says 35 million people also stand to lose their lives if TB continues unchecked.
TB infects an estimated 8.7 million people a year and kills 2 million a year. It is spread by airborne bacteria that settle into the lungs and cause long-term infection. Many people who are infected do not become ill themselves but can spread it.
Earlier Monday, Julie Gerberding, director of the US Center for Disease Control, challenged Ethiopia's political leaders to go for public tests for HIV in an attempt to help end the stigma affecting those living with the virus.
'Having a visible political leader getting an HIV test helps, there is no question about it,' she said. 'I would encourage all leaders to have an HIV test as I have done.'
Gerberding’s plea came during her three-day tour to highlight President George W. Bush's $15 billion combative HIV/AIDS initiative.
