ARVs have had dramatic results in some of these people’s lives. An 11-year-old girl, who weighed 24 pounds and was too sickly to attend school, is returned to good health and the top of her class. A man who could do little more than sit is restored and able to be a contributing member of his family. The people we meet are Zambian, but their stories typify the continent—where treatment is available, people live; where it is not, they die.
Comparisons show the progress some patients have made in as little as three months, and the reference to Lazarus (whom Jesus raised from the dead) is apt. For those who believe that all people are our neighbors, The Lazarus Effect is a welcome glimpse into how we can help each other. The money being used for treatment may come from outside, but Africans helping Africans is the focus.
There are three main sources of funding involved in this miracle, for miracles no longer come cheaply. They are (RED) and (PRODUCT) RED (current partners include American Express [UK], Apple, Bugaboo, Converse, Gap, Emporio Armani, Hallmark US, Dell, Nike, and Starbucks; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector, and affected communities); and PEPFAR (“the largest effort by any nation to combat a single disease,” launched in 2003 by former President George W. Bush).
The Lazarus Effect, presented by (RED), Anonymous Content, and HBO Documentary Films, “is at the center of a multi-media campaign by (RED) to raise awareness about the impact of large scale AIDS programs at work in Sub-Saharan Africa.” It’s an amazing film that shows what people can do when they dedicate themselves to helping others.
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Article comments
1 - Lynn Voedisch
According to the New York Times, however, we are losing that war in Africa, because (Red) and other such organizations are not enough. Individual funders have pulled out, leaving people who were once helped now on the brink of death.
Also prevention campaigns have flopped miserably. I'd like to say the picture is as rosy as this documentary presents it, but the world-wide recession has created a worse situation than we were in before.
2 - Miss Bob Etier
Lynn, unfortunately NYT is correct. In addition to the reasons you mention for this being a losing war is the fact that many people live in rural areas that are four or more days walk to the nearest clinic. Getting treatment to those small villages and settlements is nearly impossible.
(RED) may be trying to reinsert the crisis into our consciousness with the making and release of this documentary. How sad that people who were doing well on ARVs would be deprived and doomed.
In some African countries, as many as 1/3 of the population has AIDS or is HIV+. Prevention isn't much of a possibility when the disease is being passed in utero (although pregnant women do greatly reduce transmission to their babies if they are treated with ARVs during their pregnancy).