The Fight Against HIV And AIDS
How is the U.S. government fighting AIDS globally?
The thing I know best that the United States government is doing which I think these Americans can be proud of PEPFAR program, President's emergency program for AIDS relief. This was a $15 billion program we heard it's going to be increased just the support of both parties and its design to provide therapy help principally to African countries, there are nine, I believe. It would also include Vietnam, Vienna and Hayde but mainly Africa. This effort to bring therapy is far on above what any other nation is doing work, as far as I know much more than you collectively is doing. So I think this is a terrific, it isn't enough, we know that but its one heck of a beginning, and I hope it would not only continue but be increased.
How does the Global Fund to Fight AIDS compare to PEPFAR?
The United States, as I understand, also is a major contributor to the global fund and there were people who simply wanted the money to go to WHO and the global fund. But I think our country got this one really correct because in the global fund you give, you don't know always what you get. It's important to contribute to the global fund but here you know precisely what you're getting because it's bringing clinical scientists, university scientists from America together with accepted people in a given country that are on the ground in that country and it's designed to bring training to the people not just here's the drugs and we go home. You don't just put the drug on the beach and go away, you stay. You build an infrastructure with them and you have people coming here to the United States from some of those countries. So the training is how to use the drugs properly. What drugs are best in that local? Making certain considerations and testing and considering the local infrastructure and to help them with their infrastructure, not just here's the drug and go away.
How can the spread of HIV be stopped in the U.S?
We maybe doing not enough in letting the country know through education and media that the problem is not over and remains at bit unpredictable. We may be relying too much on our World Aids Day rather, lets say, ways of finding human interest stories, scientific stories and keeping it on people's plate. I'm not confident of what happens tomorrow. Yes, the blood test is protecting against the greater amount of what would be other infections and the spread of the virus. Yes, people are getting some education in schools early, I guess, grammar school today and certainly in high school. Yet the educational programme is inadequate and the attention given inadequate. Sometimes I've heard that the only thing a University group got for HIV was a ridiculous rather stupid movie and that was their source of education in HIV and AIDS.
How can the global spread of HIV be stopped?
If you are not blood testing, and some poor countries are not testing properly or doing it adequately or extensively enough, that's a big problem, it spreads. But if you are thinking of it more of, let's say, if you think of the industrial world today, it would be just making sure that people aren't forgetting that this virus is still out there and make sure that the media is giving attention to that and directing more attention to the needs of the urban, particularly African American population.
