Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Summarizes Opinion Pieces Marking World AIDS Day
Many newspapers have published editorials and opinion pieces in observance of World AIDS Day, which was Monday, Dec. 1. The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report summarizes some of them below, separated by editorials and opinion pieces and listed in alphabetical order by newspaper or author name.
Editorials
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Austin American-Statesman: The World Health Organization plan to provide antiretroviral drugs to three million people by 2005 "might seem ample at first glance," but it is actually a "humble ... beginning in the fight against HIV/AIDS," an American-Statesman editorial says. WHO's goal is both "worthy" and "terribly difficult" because pharmaceutical companies will need to increase production of antiretrovirals, funding must be secured to pay for the drugs and a distribution system must be designed, the editorial says, concluding that the fight against AIDS "must be undertaken with all the vigor the world can muster" in order to avoid "more devastation" (Austin American-Statesman, 12/2).
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Bergen Record: After World AIDS Day, people can "begin to forget the depressing numbers and sad photographs and return" to their "busy lives," a Record editorial says, adding, "Or we can decide to become part of the solution" by contributing to relief efforts, encouraging state and federal lawmakers to support HIV prevention and treatment programs and "realizing that such widespread and needless suffering in so many parts of the world must concern all of humanity" (Bergen Record, 12/2).
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Kansas City Star: Although the WHO treatment plan and the Bush administration's global AIDS initiative are "praiseworthy, ... it's important not to lose perspective about the size of the problem and the inadequate scale of the response," a Star editorial says. Less expensive treatments, more funding for prevention education and additional medical volunteers are necessary to fight AIDS, a battle that is "more than two decades old" but is "nowhere near finished," the editorial concludes (Kansas City Star, 12/2).
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Philadelphia Inquirer: HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson, who is currently traveling in Africa with a U.S. delegation, should "take back to Washington the realities that must be integrated into U.S. policymaking if the fight against AIDS is to be won": family planning funding should not be restricted, abstinence-only education should not replace comprehensive sex education and President Bush's global AIDS initiative should be fully funded, an Inquirer editorial says. Upon his return, "federal officials, led by a wiser and sadder ... Thompson can start persuading the president that underfunding his AIDS initiative in 2005, as he seems poised to do, is the deadliest of mistakes," the editorial concludes (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/2).
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Portland Press Herald: Achieving WHO's goal of treating three million HIV-positive people by 2005 "will take more than just aid from the United States," a Press Herald editorial says. AIDS could "make Africa's already fragile political climate even more unstable," and it is "important for the United States, the United Nations and other world leaders to back any strategy to attack AIDS directly," including "forgiveness of debt, security measures ... and direct financial assistance," the editorial says (Portland Press Herald, 12/2).
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Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News: "Far too many people" avoid taking an HIV test, despite "tremendous advances in the development of HIV treatments, tests and the understanding of the virus," a Deseret News editorial says. Therefore, U.S. public health officials must enhance health education and risk reduction efforts and "convince people at risk that testing remains one of the most important means of addressing HIV," the editorial says, adding that people must also strive to "overcome the stigma" of HIV/AIDS (Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News, 12/2).
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Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "For all the progress made against AIDS, the situation has never been worse," a Post-Intelligencer editorial says, adding, "That's the sad reality this World AIDS Day." The future "looks harsh," and therefore Bush and Congress must "deliver fully on their promises" of increased HIV/AIDS assistance, the editorial says (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 12/1).
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Seattle Times: The "bad news [about AIDS] cannot be allowed to overshadow the impact money and education can make," a Times editorial says. For example, Brazil provides antiretroviral drugs to individuals who need them and South Africa has "emerged from a strange, confused period about the disease to make the same pledge," the Times says. Despite the fact that the HIV/AIDS-related news is "still grim" in China, Russia and India, worldwide AIDS funding increased 50% over last year and the money has "made its mark," the editorial says (Seattle Times, 12/1).
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Syracuse Post-Standard: HIV/AIDS "can't be fought piecemeal or with the idea that it's somebody else's issue," a Post-Standard editorial says, adding that the disease "is no respecter of people or the boundaries of nations." If there is ever to be a World AIDS Day "to declare the disease is no more," more resources and a stronger will "must be committed," the editorial concludes (Syracuse Post-Standard, 12/1).
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Vancouver Sun: World AIDS Day "every year is marked with the same ritual: relief agencies appeal for money, political leaders give speeches and victims get angry. ... Then the attention disappears until next year," a Sun editorial says. The initial concern for AIDS "has given way to generalized hopelessness," the editorial says, concluding that "[i]t's strange that nowadays we acknowledge the tragic enigma of AIDS only on Dec. 1," when there are "millions around us who don't need World AIDS Day to be reminded of the ravages of this disease" (Vancouver Sun, 12/2).
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Washington Times: Although some experts and advocates have said that fighting the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic requires better management or programs targeted at disproportionately affected demographic groups, "the greater part of the [domestic HIV/AIDS] problem appears to be complacency coupled to a lack of personal responsibility," a Times editorial says, adding that although abstinence is the "only sure way" to prevent HIV infection, many U.S. people in high-risk groups "appear to have become complacent about AIDS." While people in the United States were "right to honor" World AIDS Day, "AIDS prevention begins at home, where Americans have the power -- and the responsibility -- to prevent additional infections," the editorial concludes (Washington Times, 12/2).
Opinion Pieces
- James Carroll, Boston Globe: AIDS is on a "global rampage" and it is important to "return to our former urgency" about confronting the disease "[w]ithout resuming panic and morbid dread," Carroll, a Globe columnist writes. In order to do so, funding for treatment, education and research both domestically and worldwide, distributing clean needles to injection drug users, reinvigorating sex education classes and researching treatments and vaccines must become priorities, Carroll says, concluding, "Twenty years on, the struggle against HIV/AIDS has just begun" (Carroll, Boston Globe, 12/2).
- Rep. Michael Castle, Wilmington News Journal: The United States "must stay on track to ensure we fully fund [the global AIDS initiative] to reduce suffering and save lives," while being sure not to ignore domestic HIV/AIDS issues, Castle (R-Del.), writes in a News Journal opinion piece. "World AIDS Day comes only once a year, but we should always be working to ensure this issue receives the attention and funding it deserves to help turn the tide and save lives," Castle concludes (Castle, Wilmington News Journal, 12/1).
- Edward Green/Wilfred Mlay, Long Island Newsday: The United States "should be applauded" for the global AIDS initiative, but this "historic opportunity -- not to mention billions of dollars and the lives of countless men, women and children -- will be wasted if ideology trumps proven public health policy," Green, a senior researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Mlay, World Vision International's regional vice president in Africa, write in a Newsday opinion piece. "[G]ood public health policy" requires prevention programs emphasizing abstinence, faithfulness and condom use, and "American partisans must not be allowed to make decisions from thousands of miles away -- and from a culture even more distant -- on ways African couples protect themselves from this most intimate of disease," Green and Mlay conclude (Green/Mlay, Long Island Newsday, 12/3).
- David Johnson, Tacoma News Tribune: "Often, the only factor lying between continued struggle and success in fighting AIDS is money," Johnson, senior pastor at Cedarcreek Covenant Church in Maple Valley, Wash., says in a News Tribune opinion piece, adding that African leaders have the "cultural insight, compassion and commitment to meet" the needs of their people but "need the resources." Therefore, wealthy nations, individuals, churches and other groups should therefore donate money to fight AIDS worldwide and, "[a]s we approach the next federal budget cycle, we must remind our members of Congress and the administration of their promise" of $15 billion over five years and of the "disastrous consequences if it is broken," Johnson concludes (Johnson, Tacoma News Tribune, 12/1).