San Francisco Chronicle - December 1, 2005

An estimated 40.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS around the globe. That's twice the number of a decade ago. This year alone, 4.9 million people became infected, and 3.1 million people died from the disease. (For a fuller description of these and other facts about HIV/AIDS, go to the the Web site of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation at www.kff.org.)

The face of the disease is now completely different from the one that shocked Americans when it was first diagnosed a quarter century ago. Women now represent nearly half of all people with HIV/AIDS globally. Teens and young adults make up about half of new HIV infections.

Global spending on AIDS did reach $8.3 billion this year, of which $2.3 billion came from the United States. But that's not enough. Only 1 in 5 people at risk of being infected has access to prevention programs, and 1 in 7 of those with the disease receives antiretroviral medication. UNAIDS estimates that $15 billion is needed to mount an effective response to the disease -- and that $22 billion will be needed by 2008.

By comparison, the battle against AIDS in the United States has been far more effective. This year there will be approximately 40,000 new infections -- down from 150,000 at the epidemic's peak. Today, AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death among people ages 25 to 44 -- down from the primary cause a decade ago.

But challenges remain. Even in the United States, AIDS takes too many lives. Racial and ethnic minorities -- especially African Americans -- are disproportionately the victims. "It's absolutely unacceptable that a population that represents 12 percent of the U.S. population now makes up half of all new infections," said Regina Aragon, formerly the public-policy director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Clinton. "It challenges all of us to ask what more can be done, and whether adequate resources are being targeted to this group in particular."

Among many strategies, California must do more to stop the easy availability of cheap methamphetamines, which play a destructive role in spreading the HIV virus. It's also unacceptable that state dollars still cannot be used to pay for needles used in needle-exchange programs.

World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to reflect on what more must be done, at home and abroad. Today, for example, the Alameda County Task Force on AIDS will sponsor a World AIDS Day walk at Snow Park at Lake Merritt (Lakeshore and 20th Street) in Oakland, beginning at noon.

But AIDS is still a sufficiently deadly scourge that it demands our attention 365 days a year.

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Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2005. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

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