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It’s World AIDS Day

Jill

There are an estimated 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS around the world. Almost 10 million people in developing and transitioning countries are in need of HIV/AIDS drugs; fewer than 1/3 are receiving them.

There is still hope — and on this 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, there’s finally talk of a vaccine. But we have a long way to go when conservatives continue to insist that AIDS is a “gay disease” — ignoring the fact that 59% of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, the region with the highest concentration of HIV infections, are women.* And we have far to go when mandatory HIV testing is considered a legitimate solution to the problem, and is discussed without the context of discrimination, homophobia, racism, classism, and the stigma of aidsism. (even while that context is given to the lack of response to the AIDS crisis in the first place).

The fact is that HIV/AIDS may affect people of all income levels, colors, sexual orientations and genders, but it hits some communities harder than others — and it’s a disease that is manageable primarily through access to expensive and complex drug regimines and medical treatments, which are far from universally available. It’s also been deeply politicized. Ronald Reagan famously ignored it because it seemed to be centered in gay communities, and conservatives today promote ideology instead of prevention. With a new administration coming into power, I hope that this World AIDS Day marks the last year that conservative ideals trump scientific standards when it comes to prevention. If Obama’s website is any indication, we’re headed that way:

Our first priority should be to implement the recently signed President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), legislation Barack Obama long-supported, to ensure that best practices – not ideology – to drive funding for HIV/AIDS programs. In that context, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will commit $50 billion over five years to strengthen the existing program and expand it to new regions of the world, including Southeast Asia, India, and parts of Europe, where the HIV/AIDS burden is growing. An Obama administration will also increase U.S. contributions to the Global Fund to ensure that global efforts to fight endemic disease continue to move ahead.

Julie David at RH Reality Check has other suggestions for what we can do domestically to curb the HIV/AIDS crisis. Prevention Now! has more.

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*Not that women can’t be gay, of course, or that lesbians can’t contract HIV. But when conservatives say that HIV is a “gay disease,” they usually mean a gay man’s disease.

10 thoughts on It’s World AIDS Day

  4. Good. Whatever money we’re putting in now seems to just be keeping infection rates constant. $50 billion over 5 years spent efficiently could actually do something right? Then less money would be required after that.

  7. Actually, George Bush has pledged a lot of money to AIDS relief. How much we’ve actually spent is a different matter.

    But that said, yes, he did good work in pledging large amounts of U.S. funding to fighting HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately a lot of the money has ideological strings attached. Hopefully that will change with a new administration.

  8. How about prevention in the form of personal responsibility? Like self-control: abstinence until a monogamous relationship til death do you part! We promote personal responsibility for smoking in public because studies clearly show smoking leads to lung cancer, heart disease and other problems. We now have laws about smoking in public places and public campaigns against smoking and to help people quit like National Quit Smoking day. How about a Quit Sleeping Around People campaign? We know AIDS and other STDs are spread through sex (mostly) so why not speak out about personal responsibility in this area? I don’t like it that my tax dollars go to fund programs for people who are sick just because of a lack of self control. And it isn’t right that innocent children are born with AIDS because of irresponsibility. Why doesn’t anyone take a stand and campaign for responsibilty and intelligence in this area?

  9. If you look at the CDC approved interventions for HIV/AIDS, you will notice that they all focus on personal responsibility. The interventions targeted at high risk populations emphasize knowing your status and making good partner choices. The interventions for HIV positive individuals focus on living with the disease, learning how to disclose to your partners and loved ones and how to prevent transmitting the disease.

    Also, I think that mandatory testing would help in terms of understanding the scope of the disease. The reason why the rate of infection is staying so level is in part because of the increased availability of testing and the improved testing technology. CDC has to revise its estimates regarding total cases and new infections because the old estimates were based on incomplete data.

    I work in a state HIV/AIDS program (in the hepatitis division) and the way that domestic funding for HIV/AIDS has been handled is a disgrace. Bush did not make more funding available for HIV/AIDS – the funding has been level for the last 3 years which, due to inflation, is the same thing as a cut. The most recent reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act placed such restrictions on the way funds are allocated and spent that when combined with the delayed release of funds, made it extremely difficult to maintain continuity of services.

    But the sad thing is that in terms of morality and legislation on public health issues, HIV/AIDS is just the tip of the iceberg.

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