Can the onslaught of deadly diseases be halted?
  

The HIV/AIDS pandemic now kills more then 3 million people each year and poses an unprecedented threat to human development and security. The disease is ravaging millions of families and tens of millions of orphans. The number of women affected by the HIV virus is 1½ times greater than that of men. Women currently account for 40% of the new cases for this disease as opposed to 10% 10 years ago. AIDS affects ¼ of the adult population in some countries.

In the 25 years since it was first reported, AIDS has become the leading cause of premature deaths in sub-Sahara Africa (where two thirds of all carriers of the HIV virus are to be found) and the fourth largest killer worldwide. More then 20 million people have died around the world since the epidemic began, and by 2004, an estimated 40 million people were living with HIV. In addition to the incalculable human suffering that AIDS has brought, the epidemic has reversed decades of development progress in the worst-affected countries. Almost no country has escaped its wrath.

Global spread of malaria, at the end of 2004, reached 107 countries and territories. Some 3.2 billion people lived in areas at risk of malaria transmission. An estimated 350–500 million clinical malaria episodes occur annually. World wide spread of malaria is likely to be one of the more dangerous consequences of global warming unless a truly efficient vaccine is found for that disease. Ten million children die every year of preventable diseases.

According to WHO, some 30 million deaths every year are thought to be attributable to water pollution, in the form of cholera, various types of hepatitis, dengue fever, malaria, and other parasitic diseases.

It is estimated that four million children die every year from illnesses transmitted by water unfit for drinking, that is, one child in every eight seconds. Eight million people are likely to die by 2020 of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes and on account of water contamination.

More than one in three people will be diagnosed with a type of cancer during their lifetime (about one out of every two men and one out of every three women), and one in four will die from cancer. According to the ACS, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. Almost every family has experienced the tragedy of contracting this cruel disease. It is important to realise that cancer is not a single disease with a single type of treatment. There are more than 200 different kinds of cancer, that can occur anywhere in the body, each with its own name and treatment.

The speakers will expand on the problems of HIV/AIDS, malaria, cancer and other diseases, and they will put forward a plan to eradicate these Silent Killers through an expanded and comprehensive response for prevention, education, and treatment program.