A Grim Milestone- 25 Years of AIDS

For 25 years the US and the world have struggled with HIV/AIDS. While progress has been made in treating the disease, whether one is a beneficiary of that progress largely depends on one's geography and wealth. While I know we cannot rush the science, we should push ourselves to do better to open up treatment options to a wider portion of the world's population, and we should put more energy and money into prevention.

Some obstacles are obvious. One is that AIDS is still, wrongly, associated strongly in people's minds with homosexuality. I remember when I first heard about AIDS. It was said to be a "gay disease." I also remember hearing people, including some of the televangelists of the day, either say or intimate that AIDS was somehow God's justice for immoral behavior. This vile attitude, I think, delayed research into treatments and activities in the area of prevention.

Also an obstacle are "abstinence only" approaches to sex ed. No doubt abstinence is best, and the only guarantee against pregnancy and STDs. That said, abstinence only is not realistic. We cannot allow our idealism to get in the way of prevention of what is now a disease without a cure.If we don't do better, the outlook is very bleak.

To date, 25 million people have died of AIDS. 40 million have been infected. At the current rate, according to MSNBC, "AIDS could kill 31 million people in India and 18 million in China by 2025, according to projections by U.N. population researchers. By then in Africa, where AIDS likely began and where the virus has wrought the most devastation, researchers said the toll could reach 100 million." MSNBC also reports that only 1 in 5 AIDS sufferers get the drugs they need.

This is not only a health crisis, it is also a moral crisis. People of faith around the world need to take on the challenge of helping those who suffer from AIDS, and we need to demand of our governments policies that will help to stem the ever growing disaster. We cannot continue our relative inaction (compare our work to deal with AIDS to our expenditures only in Iraq, which have been estimated at $1B per month). We especially cannot continue this inaction due to self-righteousness.

We must be motivated by faith to reach out to those in need.

GP