Chicago Sun Times Editorial - AIDS battle needs injection of a redoubled effort

Chicago Sun Times Editorial - AIDS battle needs injection of a redoubled effort
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
December 1, 2006


Today is World AIDS Day -- the 18th World AIDS Day, if you're counting. That we still need to stage this event, 25 years after the devastating disease took hold, tells you the battle is not over. What you may not appreciate, though, at a time when the cause is suffering a loss of urgency, among nations as well as individuals, is how far off victory is likely to be. To treat and educate the infected, health agencies are going to need a lot more care and money than is being allocated.

In fact, the AIDS epidemic is getting worse, not better. New reports by the United Nations AIDS Program and the World Health Organization, which created World AIDS Day, tell us 2.9 million people worldwide have died of AIDS this year. Based on WHO projections, that means 117 million more will die in the next 25 years, adding to the 25 million who have died since the outbreak of the virus in 1981. So much for the declared aim of world leaders five years ago to halt and reverse HIV and AIDS by 2015. Their more recent promises of universal access to treatment by 2010 also look shaky, at best.

As part of their "3 by 5" initiative, UNAIDS and WHO had hoped to get 3 million infected individuals in low- and middle-income nations on antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005. They failed to meet that deadline -- an especially disappointing result considering the encouraging outcomes of the treatments it did provide. The goal of treating some 10 million people on HIV drugs by 2010 stands to fall short by half. Even a celebrity war-on-AIDS advocate like Bono can't raise enough to meet the $20 billion that is needed for the initiative.

We don't need to look to Africa or Asia to find a lack of urgency in the fight against AIDS. While the incidence of AIDS in the United States isn't what it was, there are more than 40,000 new HIV infections in this country every year. African Americans are hit at an increasingly disproportionate high rate. In Illinois, where they make up only 15 percent of the population, they account for 52 percent of diagnosed AIDS cases -- way above the 40 percent national rate, even though African Americans account for 13 percent of the population.

According to a Kaiser Foundation study, HIV was the third leading cause of death for African Americans in the 25-to-34 age bracket -- a statistic that matches up with grim projections that have AIDS becoming the third leading cause of death in the world. Gov. Blagojevich's Brothers And Sisters United Against HIV/AIDS awareness campaign has had a positive impact, as have initiatives such as his AIDS Drug Assistance Program. But critics say the $2.5 million increase slated for ADAP in his 2007 budget isn't enough to keep it at full strength. More than ever, optimum support is essential.