The Ineffective Reaction to the World's AIDS/HIV Epidemic

AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

HIV - Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Although the foreign aid community can advertise a few successful health initiatives that have done much good, their failure to sufficiently react to the AIDS crisis continues today. We are faced with an epidemic. This crisis is so important to the world's population, to humanity, that it must not be left up to politicians.

Before discussing why the West didn't act more vigorously early on in the AIDS crisis, I want to quote a few of the news articles that I've read lately. This gives us a perspective on today's situation and issues.

The Guardian reported that there "are now 39.5 million living with HIV infection, according to the annual UNAIDS report, released ahead of World Aids Day on December 1, and 4.3 million of those were infected in 2006. That is 400,000 more than were infected in 2004."

Their front page story said that "in recent years the message on condoms has been diluted in favour of greater emphasis on sexual abstinence until marriage - in line with the thinking of the Bush administration, which is spending millions of dollars on HIV prevention and treatment. Critics say many women are not in a position to abstain from sex and that many are infected by their husbands."

"Peter Piot, UNAIDS's executive director, was concerned by the trends. "This is worrying - as we know increased HIV prevention programmes in these countries have shown progress in the past, Uganda being a prime example ... Countries are not moving at the same speed as their epidemics.""

Pasted from <http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1953921,00.html>

The Boston Globe reported that "In the United States and Western Europe, researchers said lackluster HIV prevention programs were to blame for no reduction in infection rates. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, new HIV infections may rise by 50 percent this year, compared to 2004."

Scotsman.com provided another perspective on Nov. 29th: "AIDS is killing as many people every month as died in the 2004 Asian tsunami, a leading scientist said today - 25 years after the first case of the disease was reported."

www.alertnet.org reported that same day that the "number of reported HIV/AIDS cases in China has grown by nearly 30 percent so far this year, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, warning that the virus seemed to be spreading from high-risk groups to the general public."

These numbers are alarming. The UNAIDS's executive director, Peter Piot, admits failure to restrain the spread of the epidemic.

So what is the problem? Do people not know how bad the crisis has become? Is it because the actions taken by aid agencies are ineffective? Or because it takes millions of deaths to make it a headline issue? Why isn't this issue worth responding to?

The truth about this crisis and the international reaction to it physically hurts.