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Infectious Diseases

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  Global View
  Mortality & Morbidity
  Co-infection
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The Impact of Infectious Diseases

Diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and other parasites are major causes of death, disability, and social and economic disruption for millions of people.^1-3 Despite the existence of safe and effective interventions, many people lack access to needed preventive and treatment care. The lost productivity, missed educational opportunities and high health-care costs caused by infectious diseases directly impact families and communities.

Infections are prevalent in developing countries, where co-infection is common. The adverse impact of infectious diseases is most severe among the poorest people, who have the fewest material, physical and financial resources to draw from and limited or no access to integrated health care, prevention tools and medications.

Infectious diseases raise awareness of our global vulnerability, the need for strong health care systems and the potentially broad and borderless impact of disease.⁴

Over 9.5 million people die each year due to infectious diseases – nearly all live in developing countries.¹
- Children are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria are leading causes of death among children under age 5; cerebral malaria can cause permanent mental impairment.^{3, 4, 6}
- Infectious diseases are also destructive to the health of adults, causing disability, a diminished quality of life, decreased productivity or death.
Co-infection. People infected with one infectious disease become more susceptible to other diseases. Examples include: HIV/AIDS co-infection with tuberculosis or malaria co-infection with multiple neglected diseases.^7-9
Interventions. Illness and death from infectious diseases are particularly tragic because they are largely preventable and treatable with available interventions.
Progress on infectious diseases includes:
- Efforts to achieve the sixth Millennium Development Goal (MDG), which focuses on stopping and reversing the spread of infectious diseases by 2015.¹⁰
- Regional progress against infectious diseases, such as:
  - A 91 percent reduction in deaths resulting from measles in Africa between 2000 and 2006.¹¹
  - The Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and the Sudan, has seen a 90 percent reduction in measles deaths from 2000 and 2007.
  - The attainment of successful treatment of tuberculosis among 85 percent of patients in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia during 2005.¹²
  - The near eradication of polio and guinea worm disease, and lower prevalence of several other tropical diseases over the past few decades.^{9, 13}
- A renewed interest in the research and development of new diagnostics, vaccines and drug treatments.^{14, 15}

Increased funding could help eradicate, eliminate and control diseases, preventing millions of deaths and improving the lives of many millions more.¹⁶

Learn More...

Understanding Infectious Diseases

Infectious Diseases Expenditures

Infectious Diseases Interventions

Overcoming Neglected Tropical Diseases with Cost-Effective, Integrated Programs

¹	World Health Organization. (2008) WHO global burden of disease: 2004 update. Available from: www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/2004_report_update/en/index.html
²	UNAIDS, World Health Organization. 2008. Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic. Available from: www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/GlobalReport/2008/2008_Global_report.asp
³	Breman J, Alilio M, Mills A. 2004. Conquering the intolerable burden of malaria: what's new, what's needed: a summary. American Journal of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene 71:1-15.
⁴	Jamison D, Breman J, Measham A, Alleyne G, Claeson M, Evans D, et al. 2006. Disease control priorities in developing countries. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
⁵	UNAIDS, World Health Organization. 2007. AIDS epidemic update. Available from: http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/2007_epiupdate_en.pdf
⁶	Rudan I, El Arifeen S, Black RE, Campbell H. 2007. Childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea: setting our priorities right. Lancet Infec Dis 7:56-61.
⁷	Korenromp EL, Williams BG, de Vlas SJ, Gouws E, Gilks CF, Ghys PD, et al. 2005. Malaria attributable to the HIV-1 epidemic, sub-Saharan Africa. Emerg Infect Dis 11(9).
⁸	World Food Programme. 2004. HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis: addressing co-infection. Rome: World Food Programme.
⁹	World Health Organization. 2006. Neglected tropical diseases: hidden successes, emerging opportunities. Geneva: WHO. Available from: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2006/WHO_CDS_NTD_2006.2_eng.pdf
¹⁰	United Nations. UN Millennium Development Goals. (accessed June 14, 2007), Available from: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
¹¹	Kapp C. 2008. Good news on measles boosts vaccination campaigns. Lancet Infec Dis 8:13.
¹²	World Health Organization. 2007. Global tuberculosis control: surveillance, planning, financing. Available from: http://www.who.int/tb/publications/global_report/2007/pdf/full.pdf
¹³	World Health Organization. 2007. The case for completing polio eradication. Available from: http://www.polioeradication.org/content/publications/TheCase_FINAL.pdf
¹⁴	Brown H. 2007. New optimism over malaria vaccine research. Lancet Infec Dis 7:84.
¹⁵	World Health Organization. 2006. Eighteen months of immunization and vaccine R & D. Available from: http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/about/gvrf/Kieny_presentation.pdf
¹⁶	Hotez PJ MD, Fenwick A et al. 2007. Incorporating a rapid-impact package for neglected tropical diseases with programs for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. PLoS Medicine 3(No 5 e102).

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