Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Summarizes Editorials, Opinion Pieces Responding to World AIDS Day
Several newspapers have published editorials and opinion pieces to mark World AIDS Day. Summaries appear below.
Editorials
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Arizona Daily Star: "HIV affects all segments of society, and we must be unified to effectively fight" the virus, a Daily Star editorial says, adding, "We have to talk about HIV, how it's transmitted, how it can be prevented and how to treat it" (Arizona Daily Star, 11/30).
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Billings Gazette: "What is needed" in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic is a "stronger sense of accountability," a Gazette editorial says, adding, "Americans, and our government, must take responsibility for sharing the medical care and prevention information available to us with less fortunate men, women and children around the world" (Billings Gazette, 11/29).
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Boston Globe: Although there is a "definite role for abstinence" in the fight against HIV, abstinence-only programs "are of little help to some of those most vulnerable to infection," a Globe editorial says, adding that abstinence spending requirements in the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief should be reversed (Boston Globe, 12/1).
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Los Angeles Times: Although the "religious intervention in the traditional province of doctors and scientists hasn't been entirely positive," President Bush and "his Christian supporters seldom get the credit they deserve for their role in the global fight against AIDS," a Times editorial says (Los Angeles Times, 11/30).
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San Francisco Chronicle: "The swing of activities around the globe" on World AIDS Day "should make the point" that HIV/AIDS is "best fought in different ways in different places," a Chronicle editorial says (San Francisco Chronicle, 12/1).
Opinion Pieces
- Carol Bellamy, Burlington Free Press: The "hemorrhaging of teachers" from AIDS-related illnesses "must be stopped," Bellamy, president and CEO and World Learning/The School for International Training, writes in a Free Press opinion piece. She adds, "Without education, we will reverse the years of gains made in the fight against HIV/AIDS for many generations" (Bellamy, Burlington Free Press, 11/30).
- Dale Hanson Bourke, Religion News Service/Charlotte Observer: As "we face another year of grim statistics about HIV/AIDS, let's do something to fight it," Hanson Bourke, author of "The Skeptic's Guide to the Global AIDS Crisis," writes in a Religion News Service/Observer opinion piece. She adds, "Let's all step up and get tested, not just as a public health responsibility, but also as a spiritual discipline to help overcome the evil of denial that has been such an effective enabler of the disease" (Hanson Bourke, Religion News Service/Charlotte Observer, 12/1).
- Thomas Coates, Mail and Guardian: The "advances of treatment in South Africa currently are groundbreaking," Coates, director of the University of California-Los Angeles Program on Global Health, writes in a Mail and Guardian opinion piece, adding, "This must continue, expand and reach every person who needs drugs." Coates outlines a seven-point plan aimed at preventing the spread of HIV in South Africa (Coates, Mail and Guardian, 12/1).
- Lola Dare, Jim Yong Kim and Paul Farmer, Washington Post: "On this World AIDS Day, we must match" PEPFAR "with a complimentary initiative for training and keeping enough new health professionals and community level workers to fulfill the promises the Untied States has made," Dare, executive secretary of the African Council for Sustainable Health Development, and Partners in Health Co-Founders Kim and Farmer write in a Post opinion piece (Dare et al., Washington Post, 12/1).
- Vincent Degennaro, Miami Herald: "To fully fund a health care workforce to treat AIDS and other diseases in developing countries, $8 billion over five years is needed from the United States alone," Degennaro, an advocacy fellow at the Global AIDS Alliance, writes in a Herald opinion piece. "To some, this may sound like a lot, but unless we fully fund the workers that are on the frontlines of the battle against disease, our efforts for stability and prosperity" in developing countries "could be as much a hindrance as a help," Degennaro writes (Degennaro, Miami Herald, 12/1).
- Helene Gayle, Seattle Times: "Empowering women is not extraneous to the fight against HIV and AIDS -- it is central to it," Gayle, president and CEO of CARE USA, writes in a Times opinion piece, concluding, "The sooner we rally our actions around that reality, the better our chances of winning this battle" (Gayle, Seattle Times, 12/1).
- Paul Zeitz, Boston Globe: "The commitment to ensure universal access to AIDS services made by the United States and the rest of the global community at the U.N. earlier this year is a solemn promise," Global AIDS Alliance Executive Director Zeitz writes, adding that "we need the United States to redesign" PEPFAR "with this goal in mind." According to Zeitz, as President Bush "looks to his legacy on AIDS, he should open the doors, consult widely and then work with the Democratic Congress to take the global AIDS response into its next phase to make this commitment a reality" (Zeitz, Boston Globe, 12/1).