World AIDS Day: Because People Are Dying

It's World AIDS Day and I wanted to post to commemorate the day--and waited until I knew exactly what I want to say. One of the lame headlines from "AOL News" gave me inspiration:

"Some Experts Argue AIDS Crisis is Overblown."

By all means, let's be accurate about a crisis where thousands of people are dying every day, millions have already died, and thousands of people a day contract a death sentence.

According to UNAIDS, between 30 and 36 million people worldwide are infected with this disease. Among the many challenges of fighting this pandemic is the undisputed fact that it hits hardest in the areas that typically lack the capacity to collect accurate data to reflect exactly the devastation wreaking havoc on entire continents. Here's what I want to ask the "experts," and anyone else to pauses to argue about this crisis:

If people are dying, what does it matter?

I've never understood why there's a need to stop and bicker over whether the crisis is overblown, when we could instead be devoting that intelligence and expertise to solving the problem. There is, certainly, a need for accurate data collection for purposes of directing and measuring efforts. If it's 30 or 30 million, people are dying.

If there's good news, is it still a crisis?

The rates of new infection are levelling off--but the 30-36 million people that are infected will still die without a cure. As will those who are newly infected. And still, half of those infected are women and children.

It can sometimes be difficult for people to grasp the depth of this crisis here in the US, because while devastated, certainly, we are more fortunate than most. Can you imagine our country, facing a difficult and uncertain economic future, trying simultaneously to save the lives of more than half of people aged 15-34? That's what's happening in places like South Africa and Swaziland. We're talking about entire generations of a nation orphaned or obliterated. There's no overstating the death of an entire continent of people.

Today is certainly a day to celebrate the successes. It is a day to remember those that didn't live long enough to see the fight. And it's a day to reflect on what else we must still do to save lives. Much like global warming, there is little that can be said that exaggerates this issue.

People are dying. Period.

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
UN AIDS
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria