Good news, folks! We have news that will cheer you up, even in the midst of an impending government shutdown. We’ll make a bold claim and say this news is even more heartwarming and inspiring than the bunny that adopted a group of piglets.
According to CBS News, UNAIDS released a report earlier this week about global rates of HIV. The rate of new HIV infections decreased by 33 percent between 2001 and 2012. The most major progress has been in stopping the spread of the HIV virus to children — since 2001, there’s been a 52 percent decrease in new infections among children. This significant decrease has been credited to the fact that more pregnant women with HIV, especially women with low incomes, were provided with antiretroviral drugs. These drugs prevent the HIV virus from progressing into AIDS, and they prevent the transmission of HIV from the mother to the unborn child.
Along with increased resources for pregnant women with HIV, a number of factors may have contributed to this drop in infection rates.
The CBS report stated that the World Health Organization has promoted earlier treatment of HIV to delay — and stop — the progression of HIV into AIDS. In addition, the WHO has supported the use of safer, simpler medications to help those with HIV live longer, healthier lives.
In addition, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a drug that would help prevent the spread of HIV among users of injectable drugs such as heroin and methamphetamine. According to another CBS report, U.S. officials are encouraging doctors to prescribe the daily AIDS medication to injectable drug users, heterosexual couples with HIV infections and high-risk gay men.
In 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the Act Against AIDS, an initiative aimed to educate Americans about the risk of AIDS and combat complacency about the spread of HIV. The campaign targeted the hardest-hit populations: gay and bisexual men, African-Americans and Latinos. The campaign is in alignment with the National AIDS/HIV Strategy, which was launched in 2010.
Thirty years ago, we wouldn’t be having this national discussion about the dangers of AIDS. Those affected in the 1980s, especially gay men in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, had little resources and dealt with isolation, fear and the crippling side effects of the disease — most notably, severe immune deficiency.
Fast forward to now, where confidential HIV testing is available at many places in America — including UF, where testing comes at no cost to students through GatorWell. Government spending in the area of AIDS education and prevention and the work of activists such as writer Edmund White have produced a positive, tangible change over the past decade.
“Now, I think there’s every reason to be hopeful. It really is more like a disease like diabetes,” White told CNN in 2011. “There are a lot of inconveniences, but you can go on living. And I would say AIDS is about like that now.”
A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 9/30/2013 under the headline "Worthy investments: HIV down, spending on meds up"
