Today is World AIDS Day.
As of this 18th World AIDS Day the global AIDS epidemic has killed 25 million people. Last year saw 3.1 million AIDS deaths. If they don’t get AIDS drugs, 6 million more people will die in the next year or two, notes health information Website WebMD.com.
New HIV infections have surged to a record high: an estimated 40,300,000 people. That’s 5 million more than last year.
An estimated 2.2 million of those infected are children, according to the United Nations, which is marking World AIDS Day with a new campaign to fight the disease in children.
I’m concerned that AIDS has dropped off the radar for many Americans. We know about the antiretroviral drugs that allow many people infected with HIV to live fairly normal lives — at least those who are fortunate enough to have money or really good health insurance. But we can’t forget about those here at home and around the world who have no access to treatment. And often they have no access to prevention, either. Political and religious leaders discourage the use of condoms and ignore the increasing infection rates for heterosexual women, preferring to continue blaming gays for the spread of the disease.
This morning I caught part of an episode of Designing Women called “Killing All the Right People”, where Mary Jo is forced to debate the issue of condoms for teenagers right after learning that a friend is dying from AIDS.
CAROLYN: Let’s quit kidding around, shall we? What you’re actually saying, Mrs. Shively, is that if your 15-year-old daughter is determined to have sex, that you won’t mind her going to a school dance with a boy who has a condom in his wallet paid for by your tax dollars. Isn’t that right?
MARY JO: What I am saying is I have a dear, sweet, funny friend — 24 years old, not very much older than the kids we’re talking about here — and he came to me this week and asked me to help plan his funeral because he’s dying…..from AIDS — something that he got before he even knew what it was or how to prevent it. I’ve been thinking about his mother this week, and what she might give for the opportunity that I have tonight — that we all still have here tonight — because now we know how to prevent AIDS. And I think it really shouldn’t matter what your personal views are on birth control, because we’re not just talking about preventing births anymore. We’re talking about preventing deaths. Twenty-five thousand Americans have died, and we’re still debating. Well, for me, the debate is over. More important than what any civic leaders, PTA, or Board of Education thinks about teenagers having sex, or any immoral act that my daughter or your son might engage in….. the bottom line is I don’t think they should have to die for it. Thank you.
That episode originally aired in the late 1980’s. I can’t believe we’re still hiding our heads in the sand in 2005.
ADDENDUM: This editorial from the New York Times (via Americablog) highlights the failure of AIDS policies around the world. Political leaders seem to be in major denial.
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.
Meanwhile, Manto Tshabalala-Msinang, South Africa’s health minister, continues to tout the use of garlic, lemon juice, and beetroot as an effective treatment for AIDS — and as a great facial.
“Oh yes, teaching abstinence is a great idea in a make- believe world where women are not raped when risking going for fresh water for their families, young children are not forced into prostitution and contaminated blood and medical supplies are not the norm in developing countries. It’s time we stopped playing the moral card here about the rights and wrongs of sex out with marriage and realised that AIDS kills more people than any international terrorist could imagine. So lets make our governments put their cash into finding a cure for this terrifying disease rather than simply producing media soundbites on some illusive war on terror.”
–Jim Campbell, Church of Scotland