Yesterday people everywhere celebrated World AIDS Day. As they did so, they recalled some of the more brutal facts concerning this scourge. As noted in media ﾖ More than two decades into the pandemic, 22 million people have died of AIDS, and 40 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Millions will perish next year unless they get the medicines.
ﾓBringing antiretroviral therapy to all who need it is the most medically challenging task that the world has ever taken on,ﾔ said Dr. Richard Feachem, executive director of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The fund has approved $800 million for AIDS treatment, but that is only enough to supply antiretroviral drugs to just 700,000 people in five years.
The World Bank is increasing support, and the United States Congress is close to appropriating about $2billion, more than half of it for treatment.
HIV-AIDS continues its relentless march throughout our region. Right behind Sub-Saharan Africa, The Caribbean ﾖ inclusive of Haiti and The Bahamas ﾖ boasts the dubious distinction of ranking with the second highest rate of HIV-AIDS infection in the world.
This bleak picture is punctuated by the good news, that there are drug therapies which make HIV-AIDS manageable. Its victims now have an extended lease on life. What is particularly noteworthy about this pandemic, is that HIV-AIDS is almost completely preventable. Spread primarily by sexual means, its transmission is, for the most part, shrouded in secrecy. As a consequence, stigma often attaches to people unfortunate enough to contract the virus.
With thousands of Bahamians already dead, and untold numbers infected, Bahamian health authorities are rightly concerned. This sense of alarm is reflected ﾖ in part ﾖ in the powerful and sustained message sent young Bahamians, concerning what they can do to protect themselves. However, despite this media assault on HIV-AIDS in The Bahamas, our fear is that too few Bahamians seem to be taking the message to heart.
Regrettably, there are still many Bahamians who know that they are carriers, and who fail to inform their partners. And yet again, there are far too many instances of cases and scenarios where Bahamian youth are abused by infected sexual predators. So, even as we congratulate our dedicated health professionals for their yeoman contribution to dealing with HIV-AIDS, we caution Bahamians that they not let down their guard.
Since the first line of defence against HIV-AIDS is abstinence; the second line fidelity; and the third condoms, Bahamians must redouble their efforts to stem the tide. The truth, however, is that none of these can ever be one hundred percent effective, if people continue to play Russian roulette with other peopleﾴs lives. It is more than tragic when a faithful partner in a supposedly committed relationship is infected. The revelation of duplicity is compounded by heartbreak. At an infinitely more extreme level of abuse and destruction, are cases where innocent children are infected by adults.
The point we underscore with these examples, is that the HIV-AIDS pandemic is nurtured in the shadows and at the crossroads, where poverty, disease, squalor and crime congregate.
In the ultimate analysis, the HIV-AIDS pandemic will be vanquished by science. In the meantime, as people worldwide await this day, they can breathe a little easier for progress already achieved. Just a few short years ago, contracting HIV-AIDS was considered tantamount to a death sentence. Today people are living with HIV-AIDS rather than dying from it. This is the good news on this World AIDS Day.
The Bahama Journal
