By Xin Huang
Northwest Asian Weekly
July 20, 2010
The XVIII International AIDS Conference took place in Vienna, Austria, from July 18th to the 23rd. The conference gathered those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV, and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. The United Nations organizations have been working together towards preventing the spread of HIV.
A new treatment has been announced by UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) – treatment 2.0. It is cheaper, with lower toxicity, higher treatment coverage, and a lower mortality rate. Dr. Michel Sidibe, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, was excited and hopeful about this development. He said, “Treatment 2.0 is a ‘game changer’… more people will be able to afford the HIV treatment; more than 10 million deaths could be averted by 2025.”
Due to raising awareness of HIV, people, especially the younger generation, have been changing their sexual behavior. “For example, more and more young men and women from Namibia, Zimbabwe are choosing to have sex later, and wearing condoms,” said Dr. Michel Sidibe. According to the statistics provided by UNAIDS, in most African countries, the trends of HIV pandemic prevalence are steadily going upward.
UNAIDS again emphasized their classic guidelines for preventing HIV as “A-B-C”: Abstinence (delaying sexual activity), being faithful, and using condoms.
On the other hand, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is urging healthcare providers, governments, and other partners to include a simple, yet vital, ingredient in the treatment of people living with HIV – good nutrition.
“There is a growing body of evidence that food and nutritional support are essential for keeping people living with HIV healthy for longer and for improving the effectiveness of treatment,” said Martin Bloem, WFP’s head of Nutrition and HIV.
“If people don’t have access to food, it is hard to take antiretroviral drugs, and the risk of going off the treatment rises. Among malnourished patients that start antiretroviral therapy (ART), the risk of death is 2 to 6 times higher compared to those who are receiving proper nourishment,” Bloem said during the AIDS 2010 conference in Vienna.
People living with HIV need more calories to help fight the virus. HIV-positive children need between 50-100 percent more calories than HIV-negative children, while adults need up to 300 percent more calories as the disease progresses.
Xin Huang is a senior at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. He is participating in a summer internship in Geneva, Switzerland, where he is attending conferences at the United Nations.
Joseph4GI says
“…more and more young men and women from Namibia, Zimbabwe are choosing to have sex later, and wearing condoms,” said Dr. Michel Sidibe.
One of the most disturbing parts of this conference was how much weight some speakers, mostly American or African, put on male circumcision.
Everyone is so excited about how male circumcision is becoming more “accepted.” Would people be “excited” to find out female circumcision was becoming more “accepted?” What if “studies showed” that female circumcision reduced the risk of HIV by 60%? 100%? Yes? No?
There were 34 studies included in the pamphlet handed out in Vienna. The majority were circumcision-based, and most were about how to better target Africans and their children for circumcision. Has the world gone mad?
For all intents and purposes, these people are advocating genital mutilation. In healthy children, it is the violation of basic human rights. The slogan for the Vienna conference was “rights here, right now.” Sidibe talked about the “voice of the voiceless.”
Even IF “studies” were correct, WHY is are they being used to push for the circumcision of male infants who have no say, and who aren’t even sex, and therefore at zero risks?
One of the bigger themes of the conference was how much financial support for the AIDS movement was declining. They talked about revolutionary “paradigm shift.” How is it wise to be spending millions on the proliferation of a surgical procedure with dubious benefits? How is it ANY organization is advocating a “preventative method” that is far supplanted by cheaper, more effective tools like condoms and ABC? How can ANY organization that says it is against AIDS encourage a “prevention method” that discourages the use of condoms?
Sidibe himself is saying that it is BEHAVIOR change that is causing HIV rates to drop. WHY then this random insertion of circumcision into the debate?
Circumcision this, circumcision that. Can’t “researchers” study anything else? Is there any “research” going into prevention methods that do NOT require one to mutilate his genitals and the genitals of his children? What new “research” is being done in that field?
A medical organization has gone mad when it is focusing on preserving, not displacing, invasive radical surgery. Human rights, voice of the voiceless, proper use of funds. Circumcision fits NOWHERE in this picture.