Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Miami Herald - Saturday, June 30, 2001
No disease has ever posed such a global threat as AIDS, rather stunning in a time when antibiotics and inoculations are routine and the genetic mysteries of diseases are unraveling at a dramatic rate. Yet AIDS, caused by the HIV virus, is most frequently passed from one person to another by one of life's most basic acts -- and therein lies its power to infect so many. Frank talk about sex is taboo in many cultures, especially where women have few rights and little education. Homosexuality suffers even more stigma in many of these cultures. AIDS prevention through public education and distribution of condoms is practically nil, particularly in the Far East and sub-Saharan Africa.
The U.N. statement tactfully acknowledges the varying cultures it represents but rightly identifies the primary goal as prevention. It sets ambitious short-term goals, such as reducing the proportion of infants infected with HIV by 20 percent by 2005 and by 50 percent by 2010.
That will mean teaching men, women, boys and girls about practicing safe sex in countries where sex education is akin to heresy. Yet the terrible threat AIDS poses is beginning to override resistant cultural beliefs. Necessity and practicality can force such change in desperate times.
The U.N. participants called for $10 billion from both public and private sources for a Global AIDS and Health Fund to finance prevention programs -- every cent and much more will be needed to damp down this disease until a cure is found. The statement said little regarding increasing treatment programs for those already infected, but surely, this should be among the goals. Drugs now can reduce symptoms so well that many infected people can lead productive lives, rearing their otherwise orphaned children. The U.N. commitment, while putting the AIDS fight center stage for a change, will serve to put more pressure on drug manufacturers to do more to ensure their products are available in the poorest countries.
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