Re: Sassy-Aids Education In Africa.
Thought this article from yesterdays Washington Post might interest you as you were the only one on the PI Alt. board
to see the value in promoting the educational approach as a first step in the war against this devestating disease.
>>By Bill Clinton
Sunday, June 24, 2001; Page B07
On the eve of a historic U.N. summit on AIDS, the world mourns the loss of a righteous voice. Earlier this month, Nkosi Johnson passed away quietly in his sleep. Nkosi was only 12 years old, but in his own modestly defiant fashion, he was a giant among us. Infected since birth with HIV, he became South Africa's leading advocate for people living with AIDS. He gave a kind, human face to 4.7 million of his compatriots who are HIV positive. He was, in the words of former president Nelson Mandela, "a very courageous young man . . . a wonderful advocate [who reached] many people beyond South Africa."
Nkosi and his peers have given me hope that we can prevail against this terrible scourge. Over the course of my recent travels in Africa, I was fortunate to meet many remarkable men and women who are working tirelessly to stem the tide of new infections, to care for those who are already sick and to press the global community to act swiftly and proportionately in the face of the greatest health crisis of the modern age.
Over the past two decades, 58 million people worldwide have been infected with HIV, and 22 million have died of AIDS. Today, 36 million people are HIV-positive, over two-thirds of whom live in Africa. But the disease is spreading quickly in other regions of the developing world, particularly in the former Soviet states, the Caribbean and parts of East and South Asia. By 2005, an estimated 100 million people will be infected.
Beyond the heartbreaking loss of life, the United States has real and profound interests in reversing this trend, because the health of our economy relies on the sustained vitality of foreign markets, many of which are threatened by the AIDS pandemic. AIDS is also a political virus. The disease strikes at vital human resources. It decimates the ranks of civic, entrepreneurial and military leadership. Moreover, widespread suffering and impoverishment are sure prescriptions for civil unrest. This is why both the U.S. government and the U.N. Security Council have identified AIDS as a security threat.
In light of all this, we must confront the AIDS epidemic as we would any other life-and-death struggle: with overwhelming determination.
Around the world, local organizations have proven that with strong leadership, popular commitment and proportionate resources, they can slow or even reverse the rate of new infection and provide life-prolonging treatment for the sick. Uganda, once the center of Africa's AIDS epidemic, has seen its infection rate drop by more than half through an unremitting and vigilant public awareness campaign. The same is true of other developing areas -- from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to Senegal and, particularly, to Brazil -- where ordinary citizens and their governments are working together, with great success, to stop HIV in its tracks.
I have seen these initiatives work. Like the volunteers I met at Hope Worldwide -- a service organization in Soweto -- millions of African citizens stand ready to do their part. Governments must do their part as well. Several weeks ago, at the urging of President Obasanjo of Nigeria, African leaders convened to launch a vigorous assault on AIDS. These developments are encouraging. But we can't fight this war on a shoestring budget.
Fortunately, we're moving in the right direction. Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will formally ask the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations to commit $10 billion annually to the war on AIDS. For mounting this bold and important initiative, he deserves our praise. Our support can make a difference. We can cut the death rate substantially just by furnishing simple medicines that stave off opportunistic diseases -- for instance, tuberculosis, which accounts for 50 percent of AIDS-related deaths in Africa. It is essential that the United States commit its share of the war chest -- approximately 22 percent of the total, equivalent to about 1 percent of the recently passed tax cut. To shirk this responsibility is to abdicate America's timeless role as a beacon of hope and promise. Moreover, we can afford to devote these resources. The price of neglect will be far higher over the long run.
With adequate funding and strong leadership, we can attack this disease comprehensively: by supporting prevention programs that drive down infection rates; by making pharmaceuticals, including medicines that block the transmission of HIV from mother to child, available at reduced costs; by developing a system to teach people how to administer these drugs and monitoring their efforts; and finally, by sustaining the scientific quest for a vaccine and a cure.
The question is no longer whether we can or can't win the war on AIDS. Of course we can. The question is: will we, or won't we? Besieged by a common enemy, we must join together in common cause -- in memory of 22 million human souls, and for the future of many millions more. Our humanity requires it. In the profound words of Nkosi Johnson, "We are all human beings. We are the same."
