Via The Star, some thoughts for tomorrow: World AIDS Day and a disease that’s no longer a cause célèbre. Excerpt:
As a cause célèbre, AIDS is no longer as sexy or compelling as it once was, losing much of its national and international cachet over the last couple of years.
The disease no longer grabs as many headlines. Politicians no longer feel compelled to be seen to invest huge dollars into research, transmission and prevention of the disease in the developing world. And closer to home many in the developed world, at least, treat the disease as nothing more than a chronic irritation.
As the world gets ready to celebrate World AIDS Day 2010 on Wednesday, many lament the apparent lack of interest in the disease. AIDS fundraising continues, but many donors turn a deaf ear and have turned to other issues and organizations. And the United Nations promise to have universal care, treatment and prevention of HIV by 2010 has yet to be achieved.
Thirty years after AIDS made headlines, the world’s attention has turned to other things: tuberculosis, malaria, malnutrition, mother and child health, Haiti, and the strengthening of the health system worldwide.
“I think back in the early days of the epidemic there was a sense of urgency that somehow has been lost,” said Dr. Julio Montaner, the Director of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in an interview with the Star.
Put simply, AIDS is no longer sexy, agrees Montaner, who also serves as the Chair in AIDS Research and Head of Division of AIDS in the Faculty of Medicine at University of British Columbia, and the Past-President of the International AIDS Society.
Partially it’s because in North America many no longer face a certain death if diagnosed with AIDS. Thanks to daily medication, most people here with AIDS live long and productive lives, he said. The same cannot be said in the developing world, where the epidemic continues to be “devastating and killing.”
“But if you’re not there and don’t see it, it’s pretty easy to move on and say, ‘Let’s focus on our priorities’,” Montaner said. For Montaner maintains that deep-seeded discrimination and stigma has resulted in decreasing interest in the disease.
“We still embrace equal opportunity and same-sex marriage but, to be frank, it’s window dressing. Stigma and discrimination still exist in our environment.”
