Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Summarizes Editorials, Opinion Pieces in Response to XV International AIDS Conference
Several newspapers published editorials and opinion pieces in response to the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand. Summaries of some of the editorials and opinion pieces appear below:
Editorials
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Arizona Republic: AIDS researchers must "press the accelerator" on the development of a vaccine for the disease, an Arizona Republic editorial says. International officials must increase spending on research from millions to billions and strive for "better collaboration and coordination" to control the epidemic, the editorial concludes (Arizona Republic, 7/18).
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Bangkok Post: Delegates at international conferences in "exotic destinations" such as Cancun, Barcelona, Johannesburg and Bangkok often "fail to be inspired and all too often trot out the same lengthy speeches, wake-up calls and tired position papers which say nothing new," a Post editorial says. Organizers should "prune down the size of these expensive talking shops" before the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006, the editorial concludes (Bangkok Post, 7/17).
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Honolulu Advertiser: To be effective, the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief must be "integrated with existing programs, commit to proven instead of ideological approaches, spend more on finding a cure for AIDS, and face up to the likelihood that this battle will last a generation or more," according to an Advertiser editorial (Honolulu Advertiser, 7/16).
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Indianapolis Star: The Bush administration and those opposed to its policies "should put aside their disagreements for the moment and focus on what's really important: fighting a scourge that takes three million lives a year and is spreading," a Star editorial says. "All parties must work together to defeat the epidemic," the editorial concludes (Indianapolis Star, 7/16).
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Orlando Sentinel: Young married women are not well-served by the "tragically irrelevant" ABC HIV prevention strategy, which stands for Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms, a Sentinel editorial says. Women need a "full-bore effort to find a substance or device that would kill or block the virus." The editorial concludes that "the most successful AIDS prevention strategy for women is equal rights under the law and access to education" (Orlando Sentinel, 7/17).
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San Antonio Express-News: U.S. legislators should "accelerate" funding for PEPFAR in response to "fingerpointing" from other nations that say the United States is not contributing "its fair share" to the fight against AIDS, an Express-News editorial says. The editorial concludes that if developing nations fail to stop the spread of HIV, "they will become sanctuaries for extremism and breeding grounds for international terrorism" (San Antonio Express-News, 7/16).
Opinion Pieces
- Georgie Anne Geyer, Chicago Tribune: At the conference, moral and practical approaches "finally" came together in a "sophisticated approach" to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, columnist Geyer writes in a Tribune opinion piece. The conference "showed how governments are finally changing and maturing in their treatment of victims of the disease," Geyer says (Geyer, Chicago Tribune, 7/16).
- Edward Lotterman, St. Paul Pioneer Press: Deaths resulting from the HIV/AIDS epidemic "constitute an economic as well as a human tragedy" because "they involve people in whom society already has invested resources but who are only beginning to produce for society," economist Lotterman writes in a Pioneer Press opinion piece (Lotterman, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 7/18).