A UN report released on World Aids Day asserts that HIV-affected households often face "irreversible poverty" due to the exorbitant costs of living with such a disease.
Women and children are often those worst affected by this, adds the report.
High health care costs and the loss of employment opportunities due to discrimination are just some of the factors that contribute to a "rapid socio-economic decline" amongst HIV-positive households.
"Without intervention, many (HIV-affected families) will slip into irreversible poverty," said the UN Development Programme's deputy regional director Nicolas Rosellini.
The extra expenses of HIV-affected households also results in higher school dropout rates since parents struggle to pay fees.
The UN estimates that around 34 million people worldwide lived with HIV in 2010, according to News24.com. The good news is that the number of Aids-linked deaths has steadily dropped from a peak of 2.2 million in 2005 to 1.8 million last year.
"Yet the challenge is far from over," insisted Samlee Plianbangchang, regional director of the World Health Organisation in an article for the Bangkok Post.
"The impact on women and children is devastating. An estimated 1.3 million women aged 15 and above currently live with HIV" in Asia, he wrote, adding that the number of children living with HIV had risen 46% from 2001 to 2009.