We were having a discussion at l'Auberge that went from "Pharmaceuticals are evil" 1 to talking about AIDS. This conversation was continued later on through twitter. The point was that current AIDS therapy is good enough so that people can survive for a long time and prevent transmission to a certain degree. So, why is this still a problem?
My first thought was cost, but I then thought that any nominal cost would be worth it pretty quickly so, I went and took a closer look at it. The lowest CURRENT price per patient per year would be $300. Of course, in the short term, this would increase with the increased demand but lower once supply catches up. I then looked to see how many people would need AIDS treatment. According to avert.org, there were 32.8 million people with HIV in 2007. Assuming that all of them develop AIDS eventually (which isn't that likely but is a worst case scenario), that would mean the initial cost of treating those people would be 9.9 billion dollars per year.
This is not an astronomical number. This is something that would be doable for many one countries and certainly this shouldn't be a problem for any of the trade blocks, providing that there is the political will. The problem AIDS victims have is that they are not citizens of the countries that could afford such a program. While I'm sure that a most people here in Canada or in other developed countries do not wish ill for the poor people of the world, they do not care enough to sacrifice their well beings in order to save others. Which of us would be willing to send $1000 every year for the next 50 years to end the pandemic? Yes, that seems like a lot of money, but with that kind of money it would only take 10 million people, not much if you consider the whole western developed world, to eradicate the HIV (or at least AIDS) over two generations.
1 I might be biased, but pharmaceuticals are not evil. I think most people misunderstand how much work goes into making the pill they take.
2 comments:
The problem of people not willing to spend enough money on the needy ones is not just limited to developed countries. India has the 2nd largest HIV+ population. Even though the spread of AIDS is rampant here,the government has been taking effective steps to decrease it. So the main problem is still the lack of proper care due to unwillingness on the part of those who are able to bear the costs.
A recently passed law(in India) makes it mandatory for politicians to declare their assets. Turns out these people have a lot of money. Then there are the businesspeople also. Imagine if some of all that money was spent on installation and implementation of proper facilities for the affected,then maybe the situation would be much better than it is now. Many organizations may even be willing but then coordinated effort is a whole new problem. NGOs help in that case, but they can do little in face of a non-supportive government.
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