Week 3 Posts & Links

Now that we've decided to narrow our focus down to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I searched for information on the disease and its effects on the world. After just a few minutes of searching, I've found that the impact that AIDS has goes far beyond health issues. There are economic issues both on the micro and macro scale as well as education issues, foreign aid issues, and simply problems of misinformation and lack of knowledge of the disease.

These links are an initial look into looking at some of the other issues connected and tied to the AIDS epidemic. Some show possible causes for the uninhibited spread of the disease while others articulate the hidden repercussions of being infected.

Lebanon: Keep Quiet if you have AIDS or you will become an outcast:
Apparently in Lebanon right now, people with AIDS are afraid of letting people know about their condition. "Anyone suspected of having the disease risks total rejection by their friends, family and colleagues at work." One particularly alarming quote in the article said that a woman believed that her having AIDS is payment due to her for her sins. The AIDS disease there and quite possibly in a number of countries is seen as a form of punishment from on high. Furthermore, because of this cultural shunning of the disease, it is found that some hospitals even refuse to treat AIDS patients. Thus, the people aren't often able to buy the treatment drugs in Lebanon but must look elsewhere to other neighboring countries to purchase them. This is quite a complicated problem that is deeply rooted in their cultural fabric.

$200 mln urged to fight neglected African diseases:
95% of the money earmarked for disease control in Africa is directed to AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. This article is arguing for a more balanced approach to disease control stating that there a great many more diseases that are hitting the African continent hard. Stating that the drugs for these other diseases such as sleeping sickness and elephantitis are extremely cheap or in some cases, free, a more holistic view of disease control is promoted here. The author of the article suspects the reason for the disproportionality to be on the fact that AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis kill whereas the other diseases disable the patient. Either way, however, it creates a great financial burden on the home especially if the affected is the breadwinning male.

Russia: Positively Abandoned:
In Russia, greater numbers of children are being abandoned. Studies are finding that the abandoned children are often those children with HIV infected mothers. These HIV infected children, when found and sent to a local children's hospital often underdevelop socially because of the fear that hospital staff have of the virus.

In Malawi, AIDS Pushes Food Shortages to Crisis Point:
This short article simply makes the connection between AIDS and food shortages/poverty. Stating the obvious that caring for family members with AIDS is a huge financial burden especially if the working male is the one infected, we see that the AIDS crisis works far beyond medical boundaries. Is there some way we can alleviate these problems simply by providing the basic necessities of food and shelter for the families afflicted by AIDS?

Rights Group: Africa Governments Fuel School Drop Outs:
Studies are finding that African children with AIDS or those with family members with AIDS are dropping out of school further contributing to educational problems. Once again, pointing to the earlier article in Malawi, the AIDS crisis is causing poverty, thus, not allowing the children to pay for schooling. In other cases, the children are found to drop out from school to grieve for their dying family members. To exacerbate the problem, the foster care systems in these countries are proving inadequate leaving the children parentless and homeless, putting the children at further risk of being infected with HIV.

Longer Term Vision Critical to Real Success in Global AIDS Response:
This article describes Brazil's success in treating the AIDS epidemic. Though it says that it's attack on the crisis comprehensive, the article only highlights Brazil's universal access to HIV treatment drugs. The article seems to make the point that making ARV drugs free is a major step in containing the spread of the virus.

Madagascar: The World Bank Supports Madagascar's Response to HIV/AIDS:
In the summer of this year, the world bank loaned Madagascar $30 million dollars to fight the spread of AIDS. This just shows that there are international economic interventions going on currently to help individual countries against this disease. How this money is going to be used in Madagascar is not explained in the article.

Commercial Sex and Drug Use Biggest Drivers of HIV in Asia, Says New AIDS Report:
According to this report, to address the HIV issue in the Asian continent means to address the sex and drug industries. As would be expected, there is often a high correlation between the two industries. That is those involved in the sex industry are often found injecting as well. Perhaps the most alarming fact in the report is that condoms, testing, and treatment for AIDS are not widely available in this area where the sex industry is flourishing. "One in six sex workers cannot recognize a condom."

Sub-Sahara Africa Misses ART Target:
Only 11% of people in sub-saharan Africa who need AIDS treatment have access to antiretroviral drugs or ART drugs. Furthermore, increased national spending on AIDS relief is having little to no effect in these countries. A startling find was reading, "a significant number of babies are infected by their mothers through breastfeeding due to the cost of baby formula."

China to Distribute Free Condoms to Combat AIDS/HIV:
The Chinese government bought 305 million condoms for free distribution in hotels and "public entertainment places." This seems to be an economically feasible bandaid treatment against the spread of AIDS. Definitely not a long term solution, but something that can hold over economically strapped countries until ART drugs become more accessible.