Before I get too hot under the collar. I should warn you now, if you haven't guessed already, I'm one of those Mr. Clement would accuse of skewing the dialogue towards political grandstanding. If by calling for governments to get off their fat asses and put their money on the table or be honest enough to say they don't care if people die or not is political grandstanding than I'm guilty as charged and proud of it.
The world has known about AIDS since the late 1970's and clued in to the fact that anybody could get it, not just a few blacks and gay men in the mid 1980's, but look at the statistics. Nearly 40 Million people are currently infected with the AIDS virus and 25 Million have died from it already. All this while the majority of politicians fund studies on how to best spend money on the disease or give money to research that will discover drugs that most patients won't be able to afford for twenty-five years when a generic drug comes on the market.
The thing is that no matter where a government claims it stands on fiscal responsibility, in all reality it is far easier to throw money at something than to actually commit to doing anything. But that's what makes a disease different from most other problems a government faces; people can't forget about it if it disappears for a few days from the front pages, because somebody is always going to be catching it and dying from it.
Throwing money at it in the hopes that will distract people will only work for so long before you actually have to do something practical. For AIDS, just like any other disease there are three avenues open for action: prevention, treatment, and cure. Not that difficult to figure out is it, but the real problem comes in the implementation, especially for number one on the list, prevention.
Everybody, repeat after me: "How is AIDS transmitted? Through the exchange of bodily fluids". Of course there are many different ways that humans can exchange bodily fluids but two of the more common ones are sex and the sharing of needles. Actually it's a little more complicated than just an exchange of bodily fluids, because the fluids have to enter into your blood stream. It can be the smallest of abrasions or scratches, but if those fluids don't meet up with a blood cell somewhere they won't be transmitting any disease.
Article comments
1 - Bonnie
Nice summary, Richard. I just want to add this, about in utero AIDS infections: In the West, we have a very low rate of these transmissions, because drugs during pregnancy, labour and delivery can prevent the child from being infected by the virus. Without drugs, the odds are fairly high (around 20%, I think, by memory) that the mother will pass the infection on to the child. (And it's higher still if the mother is breastfeeding, whether due to lack of resources -- for instance, the lack of clean drinking water with which to prepare formula -- or lack of knowledge about her HIV status or the way HIV is transmitted.)
2 - John Feldsted
The article is inaccurate in that Health Minister Tony CLements represented the government for at least five days of the AIDS conference in Toronto.
3 - RedTard
There are tons of preventable diseases that kill millions worldwide, HIV/AIDS just being one of them. The reason AIDS receives so much attention is that morally bankrupt individuals and win at all cost political organizations use it as a political tool to attack conservative positions under the guise of helping people.
I only wish that heart disease and tuberculosis had as many political implications, then maybe those folks could get help as well.
4 - Jet in Columbus
It'll take many more hetrosexual deaths before they do something Richard because of jerks who thing it's a disease that only effects "immoral" people, discounting child hemophilics and the fact that everywhere else in the world it's a hetrosexual disease.
The moralists with their noses up in the air will sit on their judgmental asses and do nothing thinking they'll kill all the fags and adulterers and then AIDS will just magically stop because GOD will stop it without mankind's help.
Tantum meus sententia
Jet
5 - RedTard
Jet, think outside of your little indoctrinated box just once. Ask yourself honestly why there's not a world tuberculosis day and why politicians of either stripe aren't lining up for TB conferences?
6 - Jet in Columbus
Because the religious right and bigots like you don't consider tuberculosis an "immorally caused" disease.
Talk about thinking in a box.
I bet no one would notice if your left turn signal blew out would they?
7 - RedTard
That's clever, Jet. I just don't like to see serious issues being used as political attacks. The religious right is not the problem, an elusive little virus is. HIV/AIDS already receives a disporportionate share of research and funding and you still whine around as if you're some sort of victim or something.
INTERESTING FACT: Easily controlled diseases with simple vaccines and cures like measles, typhoid, and malaria kill millions each year and their treatments and vaccines often cost less than $1 each.
8 - Jet in Columbus
Oh, snappy retort! There's no sense trying to reason with you
9 - Clavos
I think one major reason AIDS receives relatively little attention in the industrialized nations is because it's not an airborne contagious disease, nor is it transmitted by simple contact.
Therefore, in the advanced countries at least, relatively small segments of the population are at risk, and the majority of the populace doesn't feel directly threatened by it, as they would in the face of an outbreak of an incurable disease that spreads through the air.
This gives many people a sense of "Well I don't have to worry about it; I'm never going to get it", so there's not enough pressure from the public to do more to find a cure.
There's also less incentive for the pharmas to spend money on R & D, because the potential market for product is not very large, relatively speaking.
I'm not excusing, just highlighting some of the reasons why things are the way they are, and why progress is slow.
I disagree with you, Jet, to the extent that I don't think that most people in the medical profession are prejudiced against gays. Many do, however, have a strong bias against addicts, another high-risk group.
10 - pleasexcusetheinteruption12
Are you sure there isnt a world TB day Redtard? Even some of the most obscure diseases often have huge online support networks. And TB isnt even obscure.
And what's wrong with attacking conservatives to get more AIDS funding? If you want funding, and conservatives are the ones being scant about it, I would attack conservatives too.
11 - Jet in Columbus
Clavos I was referring to those in government and the right wing that elects them
12 - Bonnie
You know, anyone who has read my work here on Blogcritics knows I am pretty vehement about the need for improved attention for AIDS, especially in the developing world. While we're at it, I would love to see better prevention and treatment for TB, malaria, chagas disease and other illnesses that disproportionately affect less wealthy countries. The thing that's different with AIDS/HIV is that the disease has become a chronic illness in the West while it is, because of financial interests and logistical issues, still very much a death sentence elsewhere. The focus isn't on spending billions on research to give something away; it's about giving something away to markets that can't afford it, while still selling it at top dollar in wealthier countries.
As for the immorality comment, why not add heart diseaase and diabetes and anything else with a lifestyle component to that list? Compassion demands that we treat people who are sick and history shows that judgement is not going to slow infection rates or heal anyone. (Not to mention that I think this particular judgment is invalid; it's also plain useless.) Women are disproportionately affected by AIDS in the developing world and they are infected because they can't demand the use of condemns. Children are infected because their mothers are. These surely aren't people who deserve to die, slowly and painfully, without the benefit of treatment or palliative care?
In other words, the AIDS crisis deserve the noise because it represents a shameful failure of society's haves to care for its have nots. People are dying not because prevention isn't feasible, not because treatment isn't available, but because politics, morality and greed put these options out of reach.
13 - RedTard
"Are you sure there isnt a world TB day Redtard?"
Not at all, my point being it doesn't receive as much attention becuase it can't be used to score political points.
"And what's wrong with attacking conservatives to get more AIDS funding?"
At least you're willing to admit own up to the strategy. Of course, from your tilted perspective I'm sure you see nothing wrong with using sick people as political tools. As I stated before it's a shame TB, Malaria, and Heart disease don't have the same political implications. It does tell you what's important though, political points trump human lives.
"People are dying not because prevention isn't feasible, not because treatment isn't available, but because politics, morality and greed put these options out of reach."
Only a brainwashed lemming would utter such nonsense with a straight face. Without greedy capitalists the treatments you mention would never exist in the first place. Morality is a double edged sword, if EVERYONE agreed to use condoms it's spread could be stopped, likewise, if EVERYONE was monogamous or practiced abstinence the disease could be stopped. Neither will happen but idealists both sides will continue to avoid compromises or any real solutions at all costs, all the while placing the blame for failure on the other side.
Politicians have done more than their fair share to highlight AIDS because of it's status as a political weapon, and similiarly they point fingers at the other side and rail about their lack of morals. As far as killer diseases go AIDS, along with breast cancer, receive a much higher percentage of funding than the percentage of lives they effect.
14 - Bonnie
RedTard, I have the feeling you are being a devil's advocate here, but I still want to respond. First, if neither scenario will happen, then the possibility of them happening -- of these options being feasible solutions to a problem -- is irrelavant. But even more than that, if everyone used condoms, the rate would slow, yes, but that doesn't address all means of transmission. And if everyone was monogamous, the rates would slow, but it would hardly be a solution in places where the HIV infection afflicts 20% of the population. Add to that the question of how monogamy would be defined (one partner in a long term relationship at a time still leaves multiple opportunities for infection over a lifetime in high prevelance populations, especially given gaps in expected lifespans between the sexes.)
I don't disagree that some diseases get attention that is disproportionate to the affect they have on the world. Globally speaking, HIV is not one of those illnesses.
15 - mike
passage of hiv from mother to child without meds-25%, with azt alone 8%, with combo drugs approximately 1%
16 - pleasexcusetheinteruption12
Well yes if you have AIDS or are affected by AIDS then i see no shame in using AIDS as a political tool to stop whatever harmful affect it has on you direct or indirect. That's just plain old self preservation...
17 - Baronius
Seriously, is there anyone on the planet who still thinks of AIDS as a homosexual disease?
18 - Jet in Columbus
I believe MR. Phelps does, but I could be wrong...
19 - Ben Williams Nadiope
Thanks, for publishing my comment. I want to encourage all that have been caught up in AIDS battle, you are not alone. the recent concluded conference and many more taking place are geared towards sending this vitus to the abysmal it desired to send us. Believe that you will live the next day when cheap drugs to ease or completely heal you will be descovered. Remember sweetheart the biblical God is the God of all fresh there is no nothing impossible before him Kindly surrender all to Him in the name of His beloved begotten son JESUS CHRIST.
AWAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU.
GOD BLESS.