Bill and Melinda Gates, through their charitable foundation, have done for the cause of AIDS then any other individuals or private organizations, ever. Heroes to those with AIDS? The answer is yes if you support AIDS research and treatment and…are willing not to suggest that abstinence may have some role to play in slowing the AIDS epidemic. Bill got boos for suggesting this very idea in his address to the 16th International AIDS Conference. What exactly did Bill say that was so offensive? Here’s a portion of the speech:
Let’s consider what this means for universal treatment. Right now, nearly 40 million people are living with HIV. The annual treatment cost per person includes about $130 for first-line drugs,and more than $200 for personnel, lab work, and other expenses. That means that the annual cost of getting treatment to everyone in the world who is HIV positive would be more than $13 billion a year,
This $13 billion figure doesn’t count the cost of much more expensive second-line therapies,which many patients will need. Moreover, these figures assume no increase in the number of people living with HIV – yet we’re averaging 4.6 million new infections a year.
We need to do everything possible to bring down treatment costs, and I’m sure we will make progress there. But even if you take very optimistic numbers, when you extrapolate 5 to 10 years, you quickly see that there is no feasible way to do what morality requires – treat everyone with HIV – unless we dramatically reduce the number of new infections.
The harsh mathematics of this epidemic proves that prevention is essential to expanding treatment. Treatment without prevention is simply unsustainable.
We have to do a much better job on prevention.
Right now, one of the most widely practiced approaches to prevention is the ABC program, for“Abstain, Be faithful, use Condoms.” This approach has saved many lives, and we should expand it. But for many at the highest risk for infection, ABC has its limits.
The reaction is instructive. No matter how much one does to help the cause of AIDS, anything suggested that in any way inhibits irresponsible sexual behavior must be condemned. Forget that this abstinence is the ONLY sure means of preventing the spread of AIDS though sexual contact, the primary means by which the disease is spread. For liberals, true compassion for AIDS means allowing thousands and perhaps millions to contract the disease, suffer and perhaps die so long as any restriction on their sexual activity is avoided.
