AIDS Day
Today is International AIDS day, and it's hardly cause for celebration. The New York Times has an editorial which points to some of the bad news and the reasons for it.
AIDS is outrunning us. The annual report of the United Nations' AIDS agency, released last week to mark World AIDS Day today, informs us that this year there will be 5 million new infections, a record, and more than 3.1 million deaths, another record.
The most troubling aspect of the report by the agency, Unaids, is its grim evidence that many large countries are still closing their eyes to limited AIDS epidemics that will soon explode into the general population. India is providing numbers no one believes. Russia has the world's fastest-growing epidemic, fueled by intravenous drug abuse. Drug abuse also now accounts for half of China's AIDS cases, and it is spreading AIDS infections rapidly in Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan.
There is a proven way to halt the spread of AIDS among intravenous drug abusers: provide them with clean needles so they need not share dirty ones. But many governments won't do it because they fear being seen as endorsing drug abuse. The United States prohibits the use of its money for needle exchanges and is actively trying to prevent anyone else from working on the issue. In Russia, whose epidemic is nearly entirely due to drug abuse, it's illegal even to advocate needle exchanges. The price of this shortsightedness will be AIDS epidemics that spread into the general population.
...It's heartening to see that work with community groups, the promotion of consistent condom use and less risky sexual behavior, and the expansion of testing can make a difference.
...The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is carrying out most of these programs (President Bush's program focuses on only 15 countries), is running so short of money that its officials don't know whether it will start a new round of grants in 2006. The United States, which has consistently pledged to contribute a third of the Global Fund's budget, is not doing so. Mr. Bush has asked Congress for far less than he has promised. Congress has added money, but is now threatening another cut. [Emphasis added]
Tying proven methods to contain the epidemic to shortsighted 'moral' concerns is proving to be deadly. Refusing funds for needle exchange programs out of fear that it promotes intravenous drug use doesn't decrease the drug use, it merely increases the deadly results. Refusing the funds for condoms out of a belief that it will encourage 'illicit sexual activity' doesn't decrease sexual activity, it merely makes for more widows and orphans. The experience in the United States alone testifies to what happens when we take such short-sighted approaches. Not just gay males have died from this disease.
The conclusion of the editorial is right on the money:
The AIDS story this year is mostly one of failure: the failure of rich countries to give the promised money, the failure of poor nations to muster the political will. All around, it's a failure of leadership.
Indeed.
AIDS is outrunning us. The annual report of the United Nations' AIDS agency, released last week to mark World AIDS Day today, informs us that this year there will be 5 million new infections, a record, and more than 3.1 million deaths, another record.
The most troubling aspect of the report by the agency, Unaids, is its grim evidence that many large countries are still closing their eyes to limited AIDS epidemics that will soon explode into the general population. India is providing numbers no one believes. Russia has the world's fastest-growing epidemic, fueled by intravenous drug abuse. Drug abuse also now accounts for half of China's AIDS cases, and it is spreading AIDS infections rapidly in Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan.
There is a proven way to halt the spread of AIDS among intravenous drug abusers: provide them with clean needles so they need not share dirty ones. But many governments won't do it because they fear being seen as endorsing drug abuse. The United States prohibits the use of its money for needle exchanges and is actively trying to prevent anyone else from working on the issue. In Russia, whose epidemic is nearly entirely due to drug abuse, it's illegal even to advocate needle exchanges. The price of this shortsightedness will be AIDS epidemics that spread into the general population.
...It's heartening to see that work with community groups, the promotion of consistent condom use and less risky sexual behavior, and the expansion of testing can make a difference.
...The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is carrying out most of these programs (President Bush's program focuses on only 15 countries), is running so short of money that its officials don't know whether it will start a new round of grants in 2006. The United States, which has consistently pledged to contribute a third of the Global Fund's budget, is not doing so. Mr. Bush has asked Congress for far less than he has promised. Congress has added money, but is now threatening another cut. [Emphasis added]
Tying proven methods to contain the epidemic to shortsighted 'moral' concerns is proving to be deadly. Refusing funds for needle exchange programs out of fear that it promotes intravenous drug use doesn't decrease the drug use, it merely increases the deadly results. Refusing the funds for condoms out of a belief that it will encourage 'illicit sexual activity' doesn't decrease sexual activity, it merely makes for more widows and orphans. The experience in the United States alone testifies to what happens when we take such short-sighted approaches. Not just gay males have died from this disease.
The conclusion of the editorial is right on the money:
The AIDS story this year is mostly one of failure: the failure of rich countries to give the promised money, the failure of poor nations to muster the political will. All around, it's a failure of leadership.
Indeed.
posted by Diane at 4:43 AM
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