HIV treatment misguided worldwide

2.5 million people will contract HIV this year, a disease that is "preventable" according to Elizabeth Pisani, author of "The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS" at a discussion of her book at the Center For Strategic and International Studies today.

Pisani disagrees with the idea that AIDS is a worldwide problem saying, "There is no global HIV epidemic." She said that parts of Africa, or 10 percent of the world's population, have 66 percent (40 million people) of reported cases of HIV. She said that the rest of the HIV epidemic is prevalent in people who "sell sex," gay men, and drug injectors.

She focused on the multitude of interest groups that will not help in the fight to prevent HIV. She said those in the UN will lose money, politicians will lose votes, religious groups will "compromise their morality," and AIDS activists do not want to bring this problem back to its "bad days."

Pisani added that the religious "sacred cows" against prevention of HIV are miscalculated. She said the feeling among the religious that providing condoms is a way of promoting sex is misguided. She said, in her experience, carrying condoms "doesn't make it any easier to get laid." She also said that the notion that providing needles promotes injection is untrue as well.

In the U.S. , Pisani said that HIV is "a gay male disease." She said that prevention in America must be focused on that group.

In regards to to treatment of HIV, Pisani stated that she supported treatment, but "We can't do it without doing better at prevention."

Economic crisis poses a threat to AIDS treatment worldwide

The recent economic crisis may pose a threat to HIV/AIDS patients worldwide. With the financial future of so many countries in question, it appears that the funding that has provided retro viral therapy for over 300 million people may be cut. Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, gave a strong warning about cutting funding.

"Interrupting that...or slowing down would not only be a disaster for millions of people but also, it would undermine the huge investments that have been made over the last few years, just when the return of the investment is starting to come now."

Speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on "the past and present challenges for Global Health and AIDS", Piot said that the U.S.'s effort in combating AIDS internationally has saved millions of lives.

"It was really heartening to hear President Bush and Secretary Rice...at the summit on development, to make a plea for continuing American leadership here, and I hope the next President will follow on the same lines."

Piot stated that the world's funding must continue to be a priority to guarantee that 3 million people on retro viral therapy can remain in treatment, those who do not have treatment find it, and that AIDS prevention continues to be pursued.

Piot discussed the necessary steps to continue fighting AIDS, including confronting HIV/AIDS with a multilateral approach; using an approach that blends science with human rights, and adopting an attitude of immediate action.

"If we would have waited until Health systems and Health services [were] functioning very well before starting with retro viral therapy, which was the conventional wisdom of every single donor, I know what would have happened with the 3 or 4 million people on retroviral therapy today. They would be dead," said Piot.

Today at Talk Radio News

Pentagon Correspondent Dawn Casey will attend a briefing by Army Col. Dominic Caraccilo, Commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), live from Iraq in the Pentagon Briefing Room. UN Correspondent Tala Dowlatshahi will attend a briefing by the Russian Federation. The Washington Bureau will also attend a conference held by Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies on "Unearthing Iraq: Trajectories of Disintegration and Transformation," a discussion by the Center for Strategic and International Studies on "Past and Present Challenges for Global Health and AIDS," the Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom and the Institute on Religion and Democracy's discussion on "Promoting Religious Freedom in Sudan," and a discussion on "The Election and Post-Racial Politics" by the Institute for Policy Studies.

Panel discusses progress, future of U.S. aid to Africa

This morning Senator Bill Frist (R – TN) moderated a panel entitled "American Leadership on Global Health" at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The discussion was hosted by ONE.org and focused on the progress made since President Bush approved PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which nearly quadrupled aid to African nations.

One panel member said that while a large number of people are being treated, more are being infected. Everyone was in agreement that the focus needed to be on education for prevention purposes or else treatment would not matter. One mark of success is the expanded focus on other diseases affecting poor nations throughout Africa.

The need for more money to help ailing African countries was also discussed. Syndicated columnist Michael Gerson said, "Americans will be extremely generous when they feel they have an impact." Sally Canfield, senior program officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation emphasized the importance of contributions from the government as well as the private sector in order to have a successful fight against issues facing poor countries.
The group also discussed the Millennium Challenge Corporation. They discussed the continued need of MCC to challenge some of the poorest countries to work toward their own prosperity. Resources are currently being dispersed among the countries that have reached certain benchmarks, such as passing women's rights legislation.

The consensus of the panel was that only phase 1 had been completed and it was time to move to the next stage of expanding knowledge and "not creating an Africa that is dependent on US aid, but creating an Africa that is healthy enough to focus on prosperity in business."

AIDS Relief Organization Honors Congress

by Holly Jackson

Sen. Barbara Boxer and Rep. Barbara Lee were among twenty-six members of congress named as honorees by the Global AIDS Alliance Fund on Monday for their legislative efforts in fighting the AIDS epidemic.

The event, “Spreading Hope: The Congressional Leadership Awards in the Fight against HIV/AIDS,” ran concurrently with the opening day of the Democratic National Convention.

Although the group said it strives to make the fight against AIDS a bipartisan issue, it favors Sen. Obama’s AIDS strategy, with many at the event referring to Sen. Obama as the next President. Senators Obama and Hillary Clinton were also named as honorees, but were not in attendance.

Moderator David Munar of the AIDS Action Council said, “The drivers for change are coming from the Democratic Party.”

The organization also asked candidates for U.S. Congress to sign a pledge to provide leadership in fighting AIDS domestically and abroad, saying the U.S. needs to devise national AIDS strategy to combat the disease.

Actor Danny Glover, the Chairman of TransAfrica Forum, said “There is a country where a new epidemic, a new infection happens every nine minutes.” Glover continued, “There is a city where one out of 20 people are infected with HIV. That country is the United States and that city is Washington, D.C.”

Glover also said there were serious problems with President George W. Bush’s legislation “President’s Emergency Plan on AIDS Relief” (PEPFAR) approach to fighting global AIDS. The legislation requires that one-third of funds provided to AIDS-infected nations must be used for abstinence-only programs. Glover’s organization, TransAfrica Forum, is an African-American lobbying organization for Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean for AIDS relief funding.

The Global Aids Alliance Fund will also be present at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis next week.