Posted by
Rich on Monday, June 09, 2008 2:55:45 PM
Remember
all the headlines about how HIV/AIDS was going to destroy all of us?
Remember the hough and cry for funds to combat the spread of the AIDS
virus? Remember the HIPPA laws that restricted even family members from
knowing if a spouse or child had AIDS? Remember the rush by the media
to say that AIDS wasn't just about homosexual behavior but about
heterosexuals too? Remember the concerts, Hollywood elite wearing pink
ribbons, and the politicians spending billions of our dollars to help
prevent the spread of AIDS?
Well guess what, forget about it. According to
Fox News, the World Health Organization admits the threat of a global AIDS epidemic is over.
The
head of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department has
officially admitted for the first time that there will be no global
epidemic of the disease among the heterosexual population outside
Africa, The Independent reported.
Kevin
de Kock said global prevention strategies to address AIDS as a risk to
all populations, among the WHO and major AIDS organizations, may have
been misdirected. It is now recognized that, with the exception of
sub-Saharan African, it is confined to high-risk groups.
These
groups include men who have sex with other men, drug users who inject
with needles, and sex workers and their clients, The Independent
reported.
“It is very unlikely there will be a
heterosexual epidemic in other countries,” de Kock is quoted in The
Independent. “Ten years ago a lot of people were saying there would be
a generalized epidemic in Asia — China was the big worry with its huge
population. That doesn't look likely. But we have to be careful. As an
epidemiologist it is better to describe what we can measure. There
could be small outbreaks in some areas.”
However,
AIDS still kills more adults than all wars, and is winning against
current efforts to address it, The Independent reported. A WHO/U.N.
AIDS report published in June shows less than a third of people in
developing countries who need anti-retroviral drugs are receiving them.
There were 33 million people living with HIV in 2007.
Some
AIDS organizations, including the WHO, U.N. AIDS and the Global Fund
have been blasted for inflating estimates of the number of people
infected, taking much-needed funds from other diseases like malaria,
spending it on the wrong efforts such as abstinence programs rather
than condoms.
One result of the WHO’s admission
may be that the vast sums of money spent on AIDS education for people
who are not at risk may now be concentrated on high-risk groups.
There
you have it. The effort was "misdirected". We spent billions on what?
Wait, now WHO says we can now spend those billions on "high-risk
groups" meaning homosexuals, prostitutes, and intravenous drug users.
Great news. NOT!
Let's spend those billions on building strong traditional families. Anyone thinking of that???