A few months ago on the pizzle, we brought up George W's seemingly magnanimous gesture of pledging 15 billion dollars towards the fight against AIDS in Africa. In typical Dubya fashion, it was almost all smoke and mirrors, with little to no help actually going to Africa this year.
Since December 1st was officially World AIDS day, the pizzle thinks it a good time to bring all two of my readers a progress report and to remind everyone that is fight is far from over.
The BBC news website has been running a special feature on AIDS all month with some amazing stories from around the world.
Let the linkfest begin:
Some crisis warnings from Russia , China, and India : In all three countries AIDS is on the verge of moving from high risk groups, mainly intravenous drug users and sex workers, to the general population. In this phase, education, information and removing social stigma is absolutely crucial to preventing the spread of the disease. The populations of these three countries make up more than half of the world's total population. This means that not acting now could exact an enormous human and economic cost to the whole world.
Some personal stories that help illustrate both the importance of removing the social stigma and the truly global reach of the disease: Stories from Pakistan, Cuba, and Iran are just a few of the highlights.
For all you numbers people here are some ominous statistics. Globally, the number of those infected is now more than 42 million, and by the end of the decade it will have grown by another 45 million. Half of the people living with HIV/Aids are women; more than half are under the age of 24. In economic terms, this leads to a rise in health care costs and a depletion of the workforce in the short-term (as seen in many African nations like Botswana ). In the long term it leaves a generation of children uneducated and unprepared to be productive members of society. More on the numbers.
So as not to completely depress you here is some good news:
Bill Clinton recently helped to negotiate a deal between generic drug makers and the governments of several developing nations to provide AIDS drugs at low cost. Way to go Bill, Kneeee-hah!!
And a wonderful success story from Uganda.
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So what can you do? First of all, don't take the pizzle's word for it and educate yourself. More links: The WHO , and UNAIDS with links to AIDS organizations in every country.
Also, make the fight against AIDS an issue in next year's election by clicking over to Truemajority.org and stop taking your freedoms for granted!
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"I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged.
Their feathers are just too bright.
And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice.
Still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone.
I guess I just miss my friend. "
----Red, from The Shawshank Redemption
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