Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Summarizes Several Opinion Pieces on U.S. International HIV/AIDS Policy
The following is a summary of several recent editorials and opinion pieces voicing reaction to the United States' international HIV/AIDS policies:
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Indianapolis Star: Private contributions to help fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic -- such as donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Merck Foundation -- "make only a dent in treating the infected," and a "concerted effort" by both the public and private sector is needed to stop the spread of the disease, an Indianapolis Star editorial states. In particular, the United States has a "moral obligation" and must give more than the $200 million it has promised to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Indianapolis Star, 12/23).
- Newark Star-Ledger: The governments of Eurasian countries, including China, Russia and India, must focus greater attention on stopping the "already rampant" spread of HIV/AIDS throughout their populations, Nicholas Eberstadt, the Henry Wendt chair in political economy at the American Enterprise Institute and senior adviser to the National Bureau of Asian Research, writes in an opinion piece in the Newark Star-Ledger. Eurasian leaders should implement public education programs that will encourage their citizens to change their lifestyles and should "intervene with groups at high risk" of contracting HIV. Unfortunately, these nations are "not yet doing enough of these things" and it might be too late to stop the epidemics, Eberstadt concludes (Eberstadt, Newark Star-Ledger, 12/22).
- Sarasota Herald-Tribune: The United States' unwillingness at last week's Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference to reaffirm a 1994 international family planning and population agreement, which includes provisions to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide, is the "modern equivalent of fiddling while Rome burns," an editorial in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune states. In order to stop the number of HIV/AIDS cases from "march[ing] inexorably upward," the United States should "do everything in its power" to address the lack of medical care available in countries facing the epidemic and "not hobble the efforts with antiabortion politics," the editorial concludes (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 12/22).