World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. It is a time to reflect on the 30 million people who have died from the disease globally. It is also a time to reflect on what we can do rather than lament  our losses.

To wit, these ideas may tweak your attention:

• Nearly 3 billion people in India, China and Russia are witnessing a huge increase in HIV/AIDS infections. The governments do little to counteract the disease but they are becoming embarrassed and likely will address the issue more boldly soon
• The bulk of death has been in Sub Saharan Africa, nearly 28 million and growing quickly
• The pandemic in Africa has left 16 million orphans; many of them have AIDS, too
• In America most people under 30 do not know their HIV status; for HIV susceptible demographics nearly 30% of people with HIV do not know they have it! And they continue to spread it unconsciously
• American young gays rely on medicines and treatment to counteract the disease not realizing that their health costs will bankrupt them or their insurance carriers
• Means exist to test every person for less than $10 each; this is a self test and can be widely available with FDA approval
• The cost of treating the disease is exponentially greater than preventing it
• We could see a world without AIDS in less than 10 years if we focused on prevention
• Stigma keeps the world cultures from solving the problem. They think the disease is a gay disease. Being tested for HIV is viewed as an admission of being gay

Thus the disease continues its rampage across the globe. Pitiful.

Instead we need to realize that HIV/AIDS is spread through ignorance for the most part. African nations have gender and sexual mores far different than western cultures. Thus HIV is spread broadly while “mum’s the word.” Yet American government aid and charity dollars are spent in Africa because the ‘problem is worse there’. Although that may be true, I think the real reason we spend our dollars in Africa on HIV/AIDS is because we are too embarrassed by the stigma to do anything meaningful about it here at home. Those are harsh words but I think true ones.

This is not a gay person’s disease. Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. It affects men and women, boys and girls, and infants. In some cultures an entire generation has died from the disease. Gigantic child care and orphan crises exist in many areas of the globe.

This is not a black, yellow or white race disease.  Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. This is a human pandemic that is changing the shape of governments, cultures and geopolitics.

This should not be a crisis of who caused it. It should be about how do we end it!

The solution seems to me to be simple:

1. Open our minds to human diversity
2. Envision a world without AIDS
3. Prevent HIV/AIDS
1. First by knowing your status; get tested; don’t spread the disease
2. Demand FDA approval of self test; allow importation of foreign test kits
3. Educate your family on prevention
4. Treat suffers with care and compassion

Together we can each do our part. Together we can end the pandemic.

That’s my message on World AIDS Day.

December 1, 2011