Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The New York Times - November 10, 2009
To the Editor:
Re "As Donors Focus on AIDS, Child Illnesses Languish" (news article, Oct. 30):
Doctors Without Borders knows from experience the immense burden that pneumonia, diarrhea and other underfunded diseases have on children every day. We have treated hundreds of thousands of children and recognize that diarrhea and respiratory infections are among the main causes of death among this population.
But this is not a zero-sum equation: the answer is not to flatline AIDS funding and redistribute it. The only solution is to increase total funding.
AIDS is no less an emergency now than it was a decade ago. An estimated six million people need treatment today and will die without it. Doctors Without Borders, which is treating 140,000 H.I.V. patients, is already seeing the dangerous effects of shifting donor priorities outside our programs. In Uganda, from where I recently returned, H.I.V. services are being rationed and long-running programs are suspending treatment for new patients.
A decade of AIDS progress is under threat. It is of critical importance that all governments redouble their efforts on global AIDS while also expanding support for other long-neglected killers like malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhea. We refuse to accept that H.I.V. and these neglected diseases be pitted against one another.
Matthew C. Spitzer
President, Doctors Without Borders USA
New York, Oct. 30, 2009
091110
NYT091107
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