UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan urged the business community to run AIDS prevention and treatment programmes for workers or watch the killer disease wreak havoc on world economic growth.
Declaring HIV and AIDS an "unparalleled nightmare", Mr Annan told a US Chamber of Commerce breakfast the pandemic disrupted entire societies, striking white collar executives, foremen and workers in the prime of their lives in Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and now eastern Europe.
"As AIDS creates more poverty and deepens inequalities, it fuels the growing public backlash against globalisation," he said in remarks prepared for delivery.
Mr Annan estimated that $7 billion to $10 billion is needed annually compared to the $1 billion currently spent outside of Brazil, the only developing nation with a comprehensive free AIDS prevention and treatment programne.
The US government has pledged an initial contribution of $200 million.
Over 36 million people are living with AIDS or HIV, the virus that causes it, 25 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS is spreading rapidly in the Caribbean, India, China, Russia and the former Soviet republics, UN figures show.
Only 10,000 Africans with advanced cases of AIDS are being treated while the rest are left to die.
"By joining the fight against HIV/AIDS, your business will see benefits on its bottom line," Mr Annan told US business leaders.
"Together I believe we will succeed only because the costs of failure are simply too appalling to contemplate," he concluded.