Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Summarizes Editorials, Opinion Pieces on XV International AIDS Conference
Several newspapers have published editorials and opinion pieces reacting to the XV International AIDS Conference, which was held last week in Bangkok, Thailand. Summaries of the articles appear below.
Editorial
Sacramento Bee: The HIV/AIDS pandemic for "too many people and institutions seems to have lost some of its urgency," a Sacramento Bee editorial says. Although "there has been progress" in combating the disease, "accelerated efforts are still needed," as well as more "expertise, ... political will and a great deal more financial resources to change that deadly trajectory," the editorial concludes (Sacramento Bee, 7/20).
Opinion Pieces
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul, Bangkok Post: The message heard "over and again" during the conference was the "need for serious leadership and more money if HIV/AIDS is ever to become a blight of the past," columnist Apiradee writes in a Bangkok Post opinion piece. By the end of the conference, however, there was no "clear sign of a unified commitment between leaders or an increase in funds to help turn the tide on the pandemic," Apiradee concludes (Apiradee, Bangkok Post, 7/21).
Kerry Cullinan, Health-e News: By "pulling back" involvement in international events and organizations and establishing funds to "promote its own agenda on HIV/AIDS," the Bush administration is exhibiting the "domineering" and "go-it-alone trademarks" of its foreign policy in the fight against the epidemic, journalist Cullinan writes in a Health-e News opinion piece. Because of the "increasingly decisive role that the U.S. is playing in the international HIV/AIDS arena," the fight against the disease cannot be "subjected" to "inappropriate political agendas," Cullinan concludes (Cullinan, Health-e News, 7/18).
Brenda Cupper, Ottawa Citizen: Stigma is the "largest obstacle to fighting AIDS," Cupper, CARE Canada country director for Zambia, writes in an Ottawa Citizen opinion piece. Antiretroviral drugs need to be made more accessible and "we also need to ensure that people take them," which "means confronting stigma," Cupper concludes (Cupper, Ottawa Citizen, 7/21).
Pius Kamau, Denver Post: In order to increase HIV/AIDS education and condom promotion and to "fight monopolistic" pharmaceutical companies, the "energetic feminist movement" must be "revived," columnist and surgeon Kamau writes in a Denver Post opinion piece. It is not "too late to reawaken the giant power of America's women to help other women of the world," Kamau concludes (Kamau, Denver Post, 7/21).
Donald MacGillis, Boston Globe: It would be a "mistake" to end or scale down the biennial AIDS conferences because world leaders "long ignored this deeply stigmatized disease," columnist MacGillis writes in a Globe opinion piece. There is "much to be gained" from people living with HIV/AIDS and advocates "meeting in loud, and sometimes rude, circus-like gatherings" for an epidemic that "owes much of its lethality to silence," MacGillis concludes (MacGillis, Boston Globe, 7/21).
Stuart McMillan, National Business Review: The concentration of U.S. global AIDS funds to be spent through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has "confirmed the impression of many that the U.S. wants to deal with international issues unilaterally," McMillan, adjunct senior fellow at the University of Canterbury, writes in a National Business Review opinion piece. While Ambassador Randall Tobias, head of the State Department's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, "insisted" that PEPFAR was "based on science," the program's "practicality is another question," McMillan concludes (McMillan, National Business Review, 7/23).
Sue Valentine, Health-e News: Anger and "quarrelling" have become "predictable" in the fight against HIV/AIDS, journalist Sue Valentine writes in a Health-e News opinion piece. While working toward the goal of coordinating efforts among civil societies and governments, the "disappointment, fatigue and exasperation" is "palpable," Valentine concludes (Valentine, Health-e News, 7/15).
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