global AIDS

A Global Perspective of AIDS: our shared responsibility

By Barry Bittman, MD

Preserving health is far more than just a local issue. It extends beyond self to loved-ones, family, friends, community, country, the nations of the world, our planet and the universe.

This concept was brought to light in a recent interview with cultural anthropologist, Angeles Arrien. She presented a comparative perspective of health addressing the commonalties among cultures. I found her insights to be unique and enlightening as she shared a vision of cooperation among the peoples of the world that had the potential to positively impact the well-being of our planet.

I was especially touched by her sensitivity to cultural patterns that seem to ultimately converge upon a code that is shared by all of us. In light of her findings, I was especially concerned with recent news, highlighting markedly disparate updates concerning one of the most devastating diseases known to mankind, AIDS.

In an article recently published in Lancet concerning death rates among patients infected with HIV from 17 countries across Europe, Dr. Amanda Mocroft and colleagues at the Royal Free Hospital and University College Medical School in London stated, "Death rates after March 1998 are a fifth of what they were at the beginning of the study period in autumn of 1994."

Her findings are in line with US data documenting a 47 percent overall drop in the HIV death rate from 1996 figures. In a recent presentation to the American Public Health Association in Washington, D.C., Joseph Catania of the University of California-San Francisco stated, “Among a sample of some 2,800 gay and bisexual men in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, the prevalence of the HIV virus was an average 17 percent¾ down from estimated highs of as much as 50 percent in the mid-1980s.

Yet, in spite of what appear to be significant gains which are most likely the result of more effective drug combinations, AIDS devastation is advancing at an alarming pace in other areas. With its first case recorded only 11 years ago, the Ukraine is now known to have 36,000 registered cases of HIV, a figure Oleh Penin, head of Odessa's government-run regional AIDS center, predicts to represent one tenth of the real number. The United Nations estimates that Ukraine has the fastest growing rate of HIV infection in Europe, and forecasts that AIDS could cause 1.8 million deaths in Ukraine by 2016, if the country does not take major steps to combat AIDS soon. The predicted devastation in the Ukraine is but the mere tip of the iceberg.

It was also recently disclosed that the AIDS epidemic in Africa has extended beyond all prior estimates. A report released recently by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization announced, “In Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, current estimates show that between 20 percent and 25 percent of people aged 15-49 are living with HIV or AIDS.” When one considers that one Kenyan dies every three minutes from AIDS, and that two-thirds of the 6 million people who will be infected with the HIV virus this year live in Africa, the extent of the real problem takes on grave seriousness.

Yet, as a nation, we should not let our positive trend (which may be temporary) give us a false sense of security, or lead us to believe that the global problem is contained. It is a fact that 95 percent of all HIV infected people now live in the developing world. According to the United Nations, “Virtually every country in the world has seen new infections in 1998, and the epidemic is frankly out of control. Every minute of the year, 11 men, women and children contracted the deadly virus that causes AIDS, bringing the worldwide total to 33.4 million people.”

The overall responsibility for our global family belongs to all of us. We cannot expect to win a war on our turf that is progressively destroying other nations on our planet. While it was recently disclosed that President Clinton earmarked approximately $160 million for the battle against AIDS, I’m convinced that winning the war is going to be far more costly. I’m also convinced that our politicians are hesitant to apply a level of seriousness to this issue commensurate with it’s overall threat. As we remain complacent, millions die, the virus flourishes, and mutations are bound to occur.

It is this doctor’s opinion that a few hundred million dollars is no match for this global threat. A full-scale, all out war against AIDS, funded by approximately 25% of our nation’s $70 billion surplus has the potential to make all the difference in the world. It is an investment that we cannot live without¾ Mind over Matter!