Confronting AIDS at the international level

By SHARON EGIEBOR, Dallas Examiner

Thailand Prime Minister Honorable Thaksin Shinawatra said it best, “There is no substitute to seeing the problem with your own eyes. Only then can you grasp the enormity and seriousness of the predicament facing us.”

Shinawatra opened the 15th International AIDS Conference‚ in Bangkok,

Thailand Sunday with a commitment to do more for his own people, and to offer financial and informational support to his neighboring countries.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan encouraged empowerment of women and children and increased leadership by men.

The numbers of dead, dying and soon to be affected are overwhelming.

An estimated 38 million people are living with HIV/AIDS globally. In 2003 alone, 2.9 million people died and another 4.8 million were newly infected with HIV. There are 14,000 new infections each day, more than 40 percent of which are among young people 15-24 years of age and 2,000 of which among children under age 15.

The conference is international to help parochial, me-and-mine-alone

thinkers understand how large and how far HIV is spreading across the globe.

When we are sitting in Dallas and hear that thousands die each day from the disease, it is tempting to turn the channel or flip the newspaper page.

But in Bangkok, with 17,000 delegates from 160 countries and nearly 3,000 journalists talking nearly nonstop about the disease and its devastating impact, there is no where to turn.

We are learning that the truth is still awful: Infection rates are rising among women and children because too frequently they lack the power to protect themselves. Stigma keeps millions from seeking medical care. The economic fallout from ill workers and those who must care for them is destabilizing countries.

In addition, a vaccine is not on the horizon. While scientists firmly believe they will eventually create one to either prevent HIV from entering the body or stop its cellular progress, it won‚’t happen tomorrow. Researchers say too many are looking for the elusive solution using the same techniques.

The conference is full of politics and each group is finding ways to express its opinion. Should there be more generic drugs offered? Is it better to teach some form of the abstinence-until-married message, or is condom usage the world‚’s savior? Protesters have repeatedly confronted Bush administration officials attending the conference, criticizing the White House AIDS policies.

Rallies are held on huge plazas. AIDS activists run into the press room to alert the media of their pending demonstrations.

However, the conference does offer hope. Many countries, like Botswana, say they are getting a handle on the problem. They’ve created infrastructure, trained personnel and began administering antiretroviral drugs.

New prevention tools, such as the microbicides that scientists are hoping will stem the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, are being tested. The number of pills most individuals are required to take every day is also dwindling; some are on two a day, rather than 20. But most importantly, people seem to care, which is the biggest factor in making a difference.

Sharon Egiebor is the executive editor of The Dallas Examiner and a Kaiser Family Foundation HIV-Mini Media Health Fellow winner. She is attending the conference through a combined sponsorship of The Examiner, Kaiser and Black AIDS Institute.