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July 14, 2004
What should be done to fight the AIDS epidemic?
With the International AIDS Conference taking place in Thailand this week, the debate has been reopened about the international community's role in fighting the spread of the disease. Despite President Bush's State of the Union pledge for more money to fight AIDS worldwide, countries at the Conference have been harsh in their criticism of the U.S. for not doing enough to fight the epidemic: American anti-AIDS funding is tied in to the Bush Administration's abstinence-first policy of HIV prevention, a source of criticism by many developing nations. With HIV infection rates rising and more than 15 million AIDS orphans worldwide, what is the best way to combat the epidemic? Is the developed world doing enough?
 Send us your thoughts  The fight against AIDS is cannot be an American hurdle alone since it affects the world, so [important] is the effort to curtail the dreaded scouge. I feel the whole world should wake and tackle this pandemic headlong if we do not want mankind to run into extinction. Nations and particularly Third-World nations should dedicate a little of their resources towards fighting the virus and then wait and see what the U.S. and other developed nations have in stock for them, just like the Yoruba proverb that says "the child that lifts his arm in anticipation will be lifted." Agboola Kehinde Lateef Lagos, Nigeria
I think that when we adopt a really hard strategy we'll be able to change the rates [of AIDS]. Most people are not still aware of how bad AIDS is and that it can kill quickly and painfully. We must make people aware, especially children, that if they don't care about their sexual behaviors they will suffer and die miserably. I guess just showing people the disgraces of AIDS and that it can happen to them if they don't change their minds about the disease is a must. That's what the worldwide media have not achieved yet.
If you want to rid the world of AIDS, simply elect a Democrat. The only time we seem to hear about AIDS is when a Republican is in office.
In countries where people take the problem seriously and have a good education system that teachs the truth about AIDS the problem is very minor. In countries like those in Africa, where the general attitude is that it doesn't even exist or its just a disease of the "weak," the problem gets worse and worse. Education programs fail because people refuse to listen and getting on a moral high horse or citing religious reasons for being abstinent is not going to get these people's attention.
The U.S. should continue sending aid to countries plagued by AIDS, mostly in the form of medication, and developing educational programs abroad that teach contraception or abstinence to people who may not be familiar with it while stressing the importance of it to those that are. Contraception methods should be made more available to underpriviledged people, everywhere. Mainly, we have to keep working on a vaccine and become ready to distribute such a vaccine to millions of people, once we have one. Perhaps, creating that vaccine should be paramount to everything else being done to fight the AIDS epidemic.
Stop tolerating the people who engage in promiscuous sex and reckless drug usage. Shine the light on the source and put the blame where it belongs. Stop living in denial about the cause of this scourge.
Saving the world from AIDS is absolutely the most important thing we can do. No matter what the cost, we have to prevent the spread of the disease and find a cure for it as well. The same, I must say, goes for cancer too.
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Dec. 18, 2006
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