Low-profile diseases sidelined by HIV/AIDS

Experts are concerned that the global attention received by HIV/AIDS is leaving other deadly diseases out of the spotlight and underfunded.

Robert Black of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the US said AIDS funding should not be decreased, but there should be more funding for other infectious diseases.

"Given the relative magnitude of the problems of AIDS and other infectious diseases, the increase in funding for AIDS has been very large, and the funding for other infectious diseases has either not increased or only very selectively increased," Black told Reuters.

AIDS experts argue that the disease needs more money and attention because it kills more people and is more expensive to fight than other illnesses, and not enough money is being spent on tackling the pandemic in developing countries.

Research shows that respiratory infections kill more than four million people annually, diarrhoea eliminates 2.2 million, around 3 million die of malaria and at least one-third of the world's population is infected with tuberculosis.