World AIDS day

[atyc]

Today is the World AIDS day. This disease has been around for 20 or so years. It seems that it's getting worse and worse everywhere in this world with innocent people being infected. I am not a medical expert at all. But do you guys think there will be a day that this disease can be cured and that we will be able to see that day before we die? Apart from having safe sex, is there anything else we can do to prevent it or spread the message out? How many of you would volunteer to help a HIV positive person? I always have this urge to volunteer but I just can't convince myself to do it and more importantly, I don't know how my family would react if they find out. Anyway, I won't have to worry that until I actually get to do it.

[ism]

I am sure that a cure will come when nanotechnology is fully viable. I am guessing somewhere between 2034 and 2050, which may or may not be in my lifetime. Combating a "smart" virus (in the sense that it mutates so quickly) is difficult or nigh-impossible with non-smart means. My optimistic side hopes that I am wrong about that, and that an ingenius solution is developed to surprise us all.

Activism is one of the main problems in curing AIDS. Okay, that sounds a little weird, and it's not 100% truthful, so I should explain. Of the 40 million infected, nearly 30 million are in Africa, 6 million in southeast Asia; 95 percent of the infected live in the world's poorest countries. There is little incentive to find a cure, because these people simply cannot pay the costs of a drug for the pharmaceutical corporation to break even or pull a better profit than "safe" drugs. "Safe" in the sense that R&D costs will be definitely compensated for, such as Viagra and Claritin.

The stigma of AIDS being a queer disease is still around, but it has been surpassed by the notion that AIDS is a poor disease. This leads to the extrapolation that poor = ignorant = stupid = deserving. This is a major hinderance to activists since their pleas of "help the innocent" transform in the minds of many people into "help the poor uncivilized people of Africa."

When activists clamor for the large, evil multinational corporations to make AIDS medicine affordable or gratis to these poor people, they are only hurting the cause. Why would a corporation with a bottom line pump millions of dollars into developing a drug with no profit? Well, the answer is clear: research and development of AIDS medicines has dropped anywhere from 5 to 30% in the past decade.

This is quite unfortunate, considering AIDS is passing the Black Plague in terms of death toll and historic signifigance. The problem is it's affecting the people most people do not care enough about. Almost everyone in the First World knows someone who had some form of cancer, but how many can claim to know someone who has AIDS? Right now, cancer is more lucrative simply because the people that are affected are the ones that can afford the drugs.

That is AIDS activism's biggest problem. The fact that AIDS is making gains in the First World should be capitalized on. Pharmaceutical companies need to be encouraged to continue and increase spending on research and development.

[angel nympho]

^-- That's the way the world works, though. It's sad to say, but most people don't really see the purpose in helping unless they have been personally affected by it. And more people (at least here in the US) are affected more by cancer than by AIDS. It only makes sense to them to try to fix problems that are actually hurting their lives... at the moment.


And ATYC - Help an HIV positive person do what?

[iris]

I'll be going to Africa this June, ism, to finish work with Nelson Mandela's former cabinet on the research of the transmission of AIDS due to culture. We began a medical anthropology study last year. I'll be doing a follow-up this year.

In addition to poverty, the AIDS/HIV rates in Africa are also higher because the African government refuses to accept most forms of help from Western companies. This is not totally their fault. Mandela feared that the medicine donated to his people were expired and contaminated. A probe into this inequiry showed some truth to this accusation. Now Africa is wary of accepting Western aid.

You are correct in saying that AIDS still increases at the rate it does because less people are concerned with the cause. The majority of AIDS does occur in Africa, not only because of poverty but because of cultural differences. Monogamy and safe sex practices are scorned in many parts of Africa. Biological medicine is an option not chosen by most Africans who prefer Shamans or the like and even if biogical medicine were available to all, many are too poor or live too far to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, many parts of Africa does not a media system like ours that rouses a nation's concern. At the same time, in the U.S. and many other industrial nations, we are unconcernced about the situation because we are too far removed from such a different culture.

[Hiroshi2]

Yes AIDS in africa has gotten horrible. The President of Kenya has actually made a public announcement asking all Kenyans to abstain from sex for 2 years- that tells you something about just how serious this has gotten. But the thing is, AIDS is definitely worldwide now. Not only is it in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and the poorer countries of Southeast Asia, but now AIDS has reached better off asian countries, namely China, Korea, and Japan. It has truly become a global epidemic, and no matter the quality of healthcare, virtually every country and society is affected by it now. Amazing that all of this happened just since the early 1980's.

[angel nympho]

AIDS is a choice disease. I'm more concerned about stopping the SPREAD of it than finding a cure.

[applehead]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 1 2002, 10:15 PM
AIDS is a choice disease. I'm more concerned about stopping the SPREAD of it than finding a cure.
yeah. seriously. i don't understand all the amount of money going into finding a cure for AIDS. i think that could be better used in educating.. and preventing..

[iris]

I agree AN that most cases of AIDS are caused by choice decisions and the spread of it should be stopped. For the last few years now, anthropologists have been researching on why it has continued to spread so much and how societal thought has contributed to its prevalence. The resulting study should be interesting.

[atyc]

Originally posted by applehead@Dec 2 2002, 06:16 AM
yeah. seriously. i don't understand all the amount of money going into finding a cure for AIDS. i think that could be better used in educating.. and preventing..
If education itself alone is enough, why do you think people are still being infected by HIV?
Are you suggesting you would just let people who are HIV positive die without even being given a chance to live? It's like a computer virus, is it enough just to tell people "Hey, don't open that attachment, it contains virus" or a solution should be found to kill the virus???

[atyc]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 1 2002, 09:18 PM
And ATYC - Help an HIV positive person do what?
Where I used to live, they have a center who help HIV positive people to get on with their lives. It could be as simple as delivering soups (which in chinese way of thinking is very "heart warming"), visiting... basically, just to make them feel they are not isolated.

Where I am living now, I haven't really done any research on what organisation is offering what service to HIV people. Also, there are many things going on in my life now, so I think it will be awhile before I can get a chance to do it. But deep down (doesn't matter what excuse I try to come up with), I want to do it.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by atyc@Dec 2 2002, 03:00 AM
If education itself alone is enough, why do you think people are still being infected by HIV?
Are you suggesting you would just let people who are HIV positive die without even being given a chance to live? It's like a computer virus, is it enough just to tell people "Hey, don't open that attachment, it contains virus" or a solution should be found to kill the virus???
well there's also the matter of cost-effectiveness. there has been millions of dollars poured in to finding a cure but we still haven't found it yet. perhaps more money should be spent on prevention.

[atyc]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Dec 2 2002, 04:08 PM
Originally posted by atyc@Dec 2 2002, 03:00 AM
If education itself alone is enough, why do you think people are still being infected by HIV?
Are you suggesting you would just let people who are HIV positive die without even being given a chance to live? It's like a computer virus, is it enough just to tell people "Hey, don't open that attachment, it contains virus" or a solution should be found to kill the virus???
well there's also the matter of cost-effectiveness. there has been millions of dollars poured in to finding a cure but we still haven't found it yet. perhaps more money should be spent on prevention.
I remember when I first started working, there would be tasks that took me a long time to figure out a solution. Afterwards, I would say to myself, "if only I knew this and that, I wouldn't have spent so much time on other things...". The problem was "if only I knew".
I ain't no expert on medical science but I believe many medical experts are trying different ways to tackle the problem. I just hope that they are missing something very simple and that someone somehow will come up something that is affordable, something like a Panadol... But then, my question would be, would we go back to the old days, just fuck around with AIDS no longer a threat?
Also, really, compare with some other diseases, AIDS really hasn't been around for that long (with mass population being infected that is), may be just more than 20 years. So, give a bit more time to those medical experts and hope one day we don't need to worry about it anymore.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by atyc@Dec 3 2002, 02:07 AM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Dec 2 2002, 04:08 PM
Originally posted by atyc@Dec 2 2002, 03:00 AM
If education itself alone is enough, why do you think people are still being infected by HIV?
Are you suggesting you would just let people who are HIV positive die without even being given a chance to live? It's like a computer virus, is it enough just to tell people "Hey, don't open that attachment, it contains virus" or a solution should be found to kill the virus???
well there's also the matter of cost-effectiveness. there has been millions of dollars poured in to finding a cure but we still haven't found it yet. perhaps more money should be spent on prevention.
I remember when I first started working, there would be tasks that took me a long time to figure out a solution. Afterwards, I would say to myself, "if only I knew this and that, I wouldn't have spent so much time on other things...". The problem was "if only I knew".
I ain't no expert on medical science but I believe many medical experts are trying different ways to tackle the problem. I just hope that they are missing something very simple and that someone somehow will come up something that is affordable, something like a Panadol... But then, my question would be, would we go back to the old days, just fuck around with AIDS no longer a threat?
Also, really, compare with some other diseases, AIDS really hasn't been around for that long (with mass population being infected that is), may be just more than 20 years. So, give a bit more time to those medical experts and hope one day we don't need to worry about it anymore.
oy... i don't want to get into a discussion about cost-effectiveness... i kind of deal with that everyday... but whatever...

[kitty]

Originally posted by angel nympho@Dec 2 2002, 06:15 AM
AIDS is a choice disease. I'm more concerned about stopping the SPREAD of it than finding a cure.
No, AIDS isn't a choice disease. AIDS has a long incubation period in which you will seem to be fine for months, even years, but still be HIV positive with no symptoms. You can't even test positive for a few months, but you can still be a carrier right away. Without symptoms, and even by testing too early, you could unknowingly pass it on to a partner. That's why it's so dangerous.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by kittygirl@Dec 3 2002, 09:03 PM
No, AIDS isn't a choice disease. AIDS has a long incubation period in which you will seem to be fine for months, even years, but still be HIV positive with no symptoms. You can't even test positive for a few months, but you can still be a carrier right away. Without symptoms, and even by testing too early, you could unknowingly pass it on to a partner. That's why it's so dangerous.
AIDS is a choice disease in that if people were more careful, they wouldn't get it anyway. Don't have unprotected sex, don't share needles, don't do ANYTHING that involves an exchange of blood... KNOW how it's spread, know how it's NOT spread... Do everything to prevent the spread of AIDS even if you don't have AIDS. Just because you think you don't have it doesn't mean you're safe to do things that people with AIDS can't.

[kitty]

True, but some people get it from blood transfusions on operating tables.

[angel nympho]

Originally posted by kittygirl@Dec 3 2002, 09:18 PM
True, but some people get it from blood transfusions on operating tables.
By preventing AIDS, I don't mean just the person who could get it should prevent it. If somebody got AIDS from a blood transfusion (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not smart like that), wouldn't that be the fault of some stupid dumbass doctor? Couldn't things like that be prevented, too?

[applehead]

that's RARELY the case these days.