Learning from the Past

The international community has now seen the disappointing consequences of efforts to provide more people with Anti-retroviral treatment, and they must learn from these lessons to prevent the same mistakes from occurring. Falling into the trap of complacency will have severe repercussions for the 12,000 others who are contracting the disease every day. From the results of the “3 by 5” initiative, it is sufficiently clear that those combating HIV have neglected one crucial element—prevention.

This is nowhere more evident than in the nations of the Asia-Pacific region. While these nations have had unprecedented levels of success in administering HIV drug treatments to those in need and providing proper institutions and professionals to administer these drugs, they are simultaneously failing to stop the increase of the rate of HIV infections. The WHO reports that as late as November 2006, the nations in Southeast Asia had not fully committed to prevention programs. Though the countries of Southeast Asia have dramatically increased the distribution of condoms, they have failed to educate the public on sexually transmitted diseases and how to go about preventing them; the local populations’ lack of knowledge of the disease and of condom use in general makes it difficult to see the success in their condom distribution programs.

Nations have taken various actions to directly hit the main problems associated with the spread of HIV. The government of Vietnam recently committed US$20 million to the HIV/AIDS Prevention Among Youth Project to promote the use of condoms and prevent needle sharing, which is the fastest and the largest contributor to HIV infection in Asia. Because intravenous drug use is not just a country-specific problem, but also a larger regional problem, country cooperation is the best solution to the problem.

While condom use seems to be an obvious means to prevent HIV transmission, many people living in lesser developed nations either do not have access to condoms or if they do, do not understand the importance of their use. Thus, programs such as China’s experimental 100% Condom Use Program are so essential to spreading more awareness, especially in more remote areas of the world. Its trial run from 2001-2004 was deemed a success because it decreased infection cases of STDs, including AIDS in local provinces, even among entertainment workers.

While the goals of the “3 by 5” initiative should still be pursued (though now with a different deadline), more energy must be redirected to stopping the exponential growth of HIV. Anti-retroviral treatment can help those who currently need it most, but there are only limited resources for the millions of others who will be contracting HIV in the next decade. The moral obligation the world faces now is to prevent the spread of HIV.