I
feel angry, I feel distressed, I feel helpless... to live in a world where we
have the means, we have the resources, to be able to help all these patients -
what is lacking is the political will. –UN Secretary General Kofi Anan
to the BBC.
5
million people were newly infected with the HIV virus in 2003, bringing the
total number of people living with AIDS around the world to 40 million, 2.5
million of whom are children under the age of 15. 3 million people died of
AIDS in 2003 alone, with the brunt of the disease hitting sub-Saharan Africa,
while Asia and the Pacific as well as Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue
to experience an ever-expanding epidemic.
AIDS,
the disease, is strongly associated in the minds of people in many regions of
the world with 'immoral behavior', namely extra-marital sexual activities and
drug-abuse. Although this might or might not be the case for the patient
himself, the stigma accompanying the disease has resulted in an increasingly
difficult situation where patients find it difficult, or are even reluctant, to
approach a doctor for treatment. Patients are also in many cases shunned
by the community and family members, with the result of a lonely, isolated life
of debilitating disease.
We
can change this.
Open
discussion, properly understanding the disease and showing compassion to the ill
can do a world of good in managing a disease that has reached such proportions
that it has dragged some economies decades backwards.
