Former US president Bill Clinton may have uttered the best word
to describe the global AIDS situation.
It is "breathtaking," since the growth momentum of AIDS
infection has not been significantly slowed, in a war that we
cannot afford to lose.
Despite growing access to various treatments, between 4 and 5
million people worldwide may be infected with HIV in the next year.
This means more than 10,000 infections a day.
The world, including governments and international advocacy
organizations, must make collective efforts to increase financial
support, strengthen research and hold back the pandemic.
This is the message sent by the six-day International AIDS
Conference in Canada. And this message needs to be translated into
real action.
Over the past 25 years, 65 million people have been infected
with HIV and 25 million have died as a result. It is evolving into
a global scourge that will bring health, labor and poverty
disasters if no effective solution is found.
No HIV/AIDS vaccine has yet been found. We must figure out some
second-best solutions, one of which is education and access to
timely traditional treatment.
More tragic than the AIDS tragedy itself, however, is that the
majority of patients in many countries are concentrated in
under-developed rural areas, where local residents are weak in
access to both information and treatment.
China faces the same situation. Experts pointed out that about
80 percent of our HIV/AIDS patients are rural residents. They do
not know much about the "strange" disease and cannot afford
treatment.
Worldwide, the governments and non-governmental organizations
are making efforts to bridge that information and affordability
gap, but it takes time.
And the virus does not wait.
It is dangerous that in some areas, such as Asia, including
China, the infection rate is growing rapidly in recent years.
The human beings are trapped in a dilemma: No effective method
can stop the spread of the virus until people are fully aware of
the danger and preventative measures; but by then, the number of
the infected would become unaffordable.
The world is trying to find a way to shake off that dilemma, as
the world conference shows. It is time to deliver our wisdom.
Education, increased input, heightened awareness, strengthened
research: It will take efforts from all the globe's governments on
all fronts.
(China Daily August 16, 2006)
