The numbers are stark and undeniable. New research from The Lancet projects that as PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, hangs in political limbo, the world will see 4.43 to 10.75 million additional HIV infections and up to 2.93 million HIV-related deaths by 2030. Broader USAID cuts could contribute to 14 million deaths globally, with 500,000 children dying from AIDS and 2.8 million experiencing orphanhood.

These projections represent more than human tragedy. They signal the systematic destruction of America's most successful foreign policy program and reveal a massive strategic opening that corporate America can no longer afford to ignore. To that end, American companies face a choice that will define the next generation of business strategy: treat global health as someone else's responsibility, or recognize it as the ultimate market creation opportunity disguised as humanitarian work.

Here is what policymakers miss when they view global health spending as charity: every life saved represents a future consumer. Every community protected from disease becomes an emerging market. Every child who survives to adulthood thanks to health interventions contributes decades of potential economic participation. The healthy 25-year-old in Lagos will participate in the economy, buying consumer goods and utilizing banking services. Now........

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