Primarily, we have to be realistic; this crisis cannot be stopped or solved by philanthropy alone, while individual donations can make a huge difference in the lives of the people that benefit directly, international Governments need to come together to stop AIDS. The history of our own country shows, be it Army deafness claims, Hepatitis C claims, or now possibly our exponentially rising HIV figures, that the longer we wait to respond to a problem, the bigger it gets and the more it eventually costs to solve. You may remember that I mentioned two weeks ago in this column that successes a few countries such as Uganda and Senegal have shown that HIV rates can be brought down through effective prevention programs. In recognition for his work in reducing Uganda's figures, Dr. Alex Godwin Coutinho, Executive Director of The Aids Support Organization (TASO) was made the 2003 Global Humanitarian Action Honouree. He has helped thousands of Africans realise their potential. Coutinho, a native Ugandan, founded TASO in 1987 and his approach recognises that HIV/AIDS is not only a medical problem but also an issue that crosses familial and cultural boundaries. TASO has more than 80,000 registered patients and 22,000 people receiving direct care and support.
Secondarily, we have to also realise that the scale of the response has to match the scale of the crisis. We need at least $10 billion a year from the international community and within another two years, this will have risen to $15 billion a year. We presently spend $4.7 bn on AIDS each year, while the US spends almost twice this ($8bn) annually on cosmetics and Europe spends more than twice this ($11bn) on ice cream. Last year, Europe and America spent nearly five times as much ($17bn) on pet food as they did on fighting global AIDS ($3.6bn). it goes without saying that the US Government recently was granted a $ 83 billion top up to finance its war in Iraq. This money could have been used to totally wipe HIV/AIDS of this planet for good. I hope that George Bush can sleep comfortably in his bed each night.
To address this problem, we need a person or person that can ideally forge a partnership between the United States and other world governments, between the IMF, the World Economic Forum, and the UN. And, I feel we have that very person.
No matter what you might personally think about Bono, every living Irish person and beyond must praise his efforts and acknowledge his determination in bringing the plague of HIV/AIDS to the minds of every person and to the head of every nation's foreign policy agenda - and for keeping it there!. He also does this not for self gain but because he believes that this is a problem we can solve. He is motivated by the best Christian ethic and he has personally spent time with his wife Ali, helping the dying of Africa. Bono has become a catalyst and a force for progress and change, someone who believes in miracles, of whom, Tom Freston, Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks recently said he "manages to set the moral compass for the rest of us."
And what do we do when we have the money?
Firstly, in the absence of a suitable vaccine yet, a large percentage of this money must be spent on life-saving antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). Evidence shows that Africans taking the medication adhere to their regimens much better than Americans or Europeans, with a success rate is about 80 per cent. It is incredible that patients on death's door can be back at work within 2 months of starting treatment. To be realistic, 4.1 million Africans need ARVs today - but only 50,000-70,000 currently receive these drugs. The rest will soon die of they do not get access. This is partly because of the price - the cheapest drugs are a dollar a day, but most Africans cannot afford this. It is also because of availability - in some places, only more expensive drugs are available, plus in many communities, there is not infrastructure or trained healthcare workers to monitor and administer the treatment. We have to remove the stigma, the hopelessness, and the shame that is still associated with AIDS of HIV/AIDS. This is partially where the doctors that are against mandatory screening for HIV in this country are coming form and I can totally understand that. It is another thing that we are only aware of our exponentially rising figures because of mandatory screening of these patients in our maternity hospitals. The bottom line is, without this screening we would not know that even these patients existed. And, what about their partners and all the others walking our streets infecting the population. It is one thing to remove the shame and stigma associated with the HIV virus, it is totally another to protect our citizens against the disease.
In the Gospel, the poor leper fell down before Jesus with the simple declaration of faith, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean." The Gospel says Jesus was moved with pity, touched him, and said, "I will; be clean". Poor lepers like the man in the Gospel were segregated from society and were required to give public warning of their presence by crying out, "Unclean, unclean." We can have some sense of the plight of biblical lepers by reflecting on the victims of AIDS. The fact that Jesus touched the leper teaches us that we should despise no one, because of some blemish of his or her body. This is the difference in quarantining rather than stigmatising a patient and we had better learn the difference quickly before we have another looming haemovigilance disaster on our hands.
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