The Myth of a General AIDS Pandemic: How UNAIDS has Wasted Billions

Although AIDS remains one of the most severe infectious disease pandemics of the modern era, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has systematically misled the public and policymakers regarding the size and trend of the disease.

According to Professor James Chin, one of the pioneers of AIDS surveillance methods used by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS has grossly overestimated HIV prevalence, misled the public about future trends of the pandemic, and exaggerated the potential for HIV epidemics in ‘general’ populations outside Sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Chin argues that UNAIDS has been painting a falsely pessimistic view of the AIDS pandemic to ensure donors and policymakers continue to give high priority to AIDS programmes. But as a result of UNAIDS’ distortions, time, money and resources are being misdirected worldwide.

About the speaker

James Chin MD, MPH is Clinical Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley. Between 1987 and 1992 he was Chief of the Surveillance, Forecasting and Impact Assessment unit at the World Health Organization’s Global Programme on AIDS, where he was responsible for developing the methods and guidelines for global and regional HIV/AIDS surveillance. He is the author of The AIDS Pandemic: The Collision of Epidemiology and Political Correctness (Radcliffe, 2007), and he is a frequent commentator in the global media on issues relating to HIV/AIDS.