| Summary: | Despite the fact that 95% of the world’s 42 million people who have HIV/AIDS live in poor countries, most medical literature on the ocular problems still focuses on problems in the industrialized countries. This is unfortunate, as there are many differences in the way the epidemic manifests itself in the poor countries compared to the industrialized world, including higher mortality rates earlier in the course of the disease. These differences, due to different available treatments for the virus and opportunistic infections, and differences in endemnicity of other opportunistic diseases, were apparent early in the epidemic. In the past few years, the availability of highly active anti-retroviral treatment (HAART) in the industrialized countries has widened the gap even more dramatically. Many formerly busy HIV/AIDS eye clinics in the industrialized countries have few patients now. HAART, however, is still available to only a very small fraction of those who need it, and there is still disproportionately little research on the major ocular manifestations in the poor countries.No one who lives in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly 30 million people are infected, can be unaware of the tremendous impact that the epidemic has on health care. Medical and paediatric wards are overflowing with HIV-related problems. There is a direct and indirect impact on eye care services as well.
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