HIV/AIDS through Unsafe Medical Care (14)
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Dear Colleagues
I have just read the posting by Edward Green on 29th October. I am
not sure I am clear about the message..... is that sex is the driver
of the epidemic but we are not putting enough emphasis on ending sex
in Africa..... or are you saying something else?
I will argue that the epidemic has gotten out of control because of a
confluence of many factors.... and it must be ended by breaking out
of a very difficult vicious Catch 22. As in so much of "development",
simple answers to complex issues rarely work. Money is not the an-
swer.... on its own..... but can certainly help where good people are
already working effectively but with limited resources.
Certainly sex is an important vector for virus transmission..... but
so also is person to person blood contamination whether by dirty nee-
dles.... or dirty blood transfusion.... or some traditional surgeries
with dirty blades.
And certainly the virus damages immune systems..... but these systems
are also compromised by hunger and poverty and lack of medical treat-
ment and lack of medicines..... one can go on.
A single cause of the scale of the epidemic cannot be identified.....
a single solution will not end the epidemic..... many many interven-
tions..... small and big are needed.... ALL the systemic problems of
health care.... and hunger.... and poverty.... and ignorance.... and
behavior..... need to be addressed..... AS QUICKLY AND AS COMPREHEN-
SIVELY AS POSSIBLE.
Most important..... the crisis cannot be "spun" away.... the crisis
cannot be ended by administrative fiat.... the crisis will only be
ended by practical work and practical change and real resources being
used for real work.
When the public gets to understand how little money is actually used
for real practical work.... there will be OUTRAGE.... but up to now
the only information about money is how much is put into the system
at the top.... with almost nothing about the money being used at the
grassroots.
I am impressed by the multitude of local interventions... how much is
being done with very little. But I am also upset by how much money
has been mobilized for health and HIV-AIDS..... and used ineffec-
tively.... and with little accounting and accountability that is eas-
ily visible to the interested PUBLIC in the South or the North.
Enough,
T. Peter Burgess
VP and CFO ATCnet
New York, USA
Tel: +1-212-772-6918
Fax: +1-707-371-7805
mailto:profitinafrica@aol.com
mailto:hivaidsstories@aol.com
http://www.atcnet.org
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