http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/world/africa/10aids.html?pagewanted=1&sq=epidemics and disease&st=cse&scp=1
This article is written by Donald G McNeil Jr. Mr. McNeil, he has worked for the New York Times since 1976, and has won many awards for his work writing a series on patent monopolies on AIDS in Africa and about six diseases on the brink of eradication. He has also won awards for writing a series about patients suffering from cancer in third world countries are dying without morphine. He has worked for many magazines and has taught journalism at Columbia University.
I found this article very interesting because it relates to our class directly focusing on the war against AIDS. The global fight against AIDS has reached its tipping point, and may be falling in the wrong direction. Mr. McNeil reports that we are losing the war against AIDS. Each year 110,000 new cases turn up in Uganda alone. Comparing this with the 500,000 people needed to be treated, and with the facts that only 220,000 can be treated right now looks like a disaster in the making. These numbers are scary enough, but one becomes terrified when these numbers only represent the fight in Uganda. U.S donors have been making a "superhuman effort" to try and fight back against this disease, but unfortunately we are losing. Donations number around $10 billion a year to the global fight, but it is estimated that it would take at least $27 billion to just get a grip on the issue. We will still be dealing with this epidemic for many years to come, and the possibility of never beating it is coming ever so closer. Of the 33 billion people infected with AIDS, and at the rate of infection a million a year, many are being turned away from treatment because of the tight budget. News that is even more unsettling is the fact that because of the economic struggles donations have dropped. Meaning many patients once being treated no longer can get the treatment they need to stay alive. Causing the disease to take over their bodies and drive them to their deaths. Also with the stoppage of treatment many will die. Many have resulted with sharing pills with others which will lead to the death of both parties. Also with not continuing treatment many could develop drug resistant AIDS, and pass that on, thus making it even harder to fight off.
Many Americans have reached such a high point of frustration that many have turned to donating their money to help fight other diseases. Now many have shifted their focus to fight off child-killers and still birth. Many doctors feel on the other hand that the AIDS epidemic is much more important to fight because it infects 2 million people each year. Those other diseases can be fought off using antibiotics, and other treatments. Many donors think they are saving more people by focusing on these diseases instead of AIDS because they believe that they cannot beat AIDS. This frustrates doctors who have given hope to so many over the past ten years only to have the money be cut, and have to turn away patients. Mr. Sidibé said, “The whole hope I’ve had for the last 10 years will disappear.” The cavalry is not coming people, and for those millions of people in the future who will be infected with this disease, most of you will not be able to get treated. There has been no magic bullet that will stop AIDS and no miracle is in sight. The director-general of Uganda AIDS Commission Dr. David Kihumuro Apuuli says, "You cannot mop the floor when the tap is still running on it.” this quote really explains how everyone is feeling about this epidemic.
It is very easy to relate this article to what we have been studying in class. After spending a unit on AIDS one gets a better picture about how troubling it is to get rid of. I found that this article reinforces that fears that we all share about AIDS. It terrifying to think that in 2031 we will still be tangling with this monster of an epidemic with no end in sight. Only having the sight of billions dead from this non forgiving disease with the wish that we did more to fight it. We have to do something about this growing problem, or else it could turn even harder to get rid of. We cannot simply look the other way and allow this beast to consume the entire world, and live under the threat of its fist bringing our down fall. This is simply one beast we most tangle with in the world of epidemics, and the future is not looking promising. We can only hope that a medical miracle can come soon to save our lives before it is too late.
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Great choice, Cody. This article was relevant to class and engaging to read. The number of cases is chilling and it saddens me that many patients once being treated can no longer get the treatment they need to stay alive because donations have decreased. It is discouraging to hear that people would rather put their money towards other diseases because they do not think AIDS can be defeated.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article, Cody. It's cool how relevant this article is to what we're discussing right now in class. It's always cool to see things like this in the news because it makes you realize that what you're learning in school is important and that things we learn today can actually help us later on in life when we enter the real world. This being the last week of school, I am really starting to realize that soon enough, I will actually be in the real world and I will no longer be the high school world. This article really caught my attention because I now understand how devastating AIDS can be and it is next to tragic that people are staring to give up the battle. Although AIDS may never be curable, it is still important to focus on curing people as much as we can. It is sad that people once getting better are now failing because of a lack of money in donations and a lack of ability to pay for the proper medications. As saddening as this is though, I can understand how people are thinking in that they would much rather donate their money to a foundation with more of a promise for a new cure instead of fighting the same old battle against AIDS which some might argue we were never really winning.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really good article. I think it related really well to what we are learning about in class about the AIDS epidemic, and this article definitely shows how people are affected by it. I also thought that it is horrible that many people cannot get the treatment they deserve for AIDS because they do not have the money to pay for it. Even though we do not have a cure for AIDS and might not ever find one, I think that it is important to keep trying and also to not give up hope especially for the sake of the people with the disease.
ReplyDeleteCody, this was a very interesting article. It related very well to our unit on the fight against AIDS in class. The fact that there are so many people dying in Uganda alone and the numbers are increasing annually is very disturbing. Even though there is no cure for AIDS right now I believe that Americans should continue to fund research. If we don't make an effort and donate money then we will never find a cure and those who need treatment won't be able to get it. Also, the fact that many people don't donate money towards research is hypocritical. Many people refuse to give money because it is to help those in Uganda, and an American may not be personally affected. However, AIDS is a global epidemic and anyone of us could become infected. But without the treatments being researched nobody will be cured, including your loved ones.
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