Worldwide, an estimated 38.6 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Globally, half of them are women, but in parts of the developing world, two in every three infections are among women.
A weeklong conference on HIV/AIDS has begun in Toronto which has attracted over 30,000 participants from 170 countries. This includes scientists, politicians, advocates, health workers, individuals living with HIV/AIDS and it marks the 25 anniversary of the first reported cases.
Bill and Melinda Gates, who to date have donated over 60 billion dollars to the cause of finding a cure, opened the conference.
An excerpt from the Globe and Mail:
The key to stemming the HIV/AIDS pandemic is getting more power — economic, sexual and legal — into the hands of the world's poorest, most oppressed women.
“We need to put the power to prevent HIV in the hands of women,” Bill Gates said last night at the opening of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
Mr. Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. and co-chair of the $62-billion (U.S.) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that in particular, it must be a priority to develop microbicides and oral prevention drugs, medications that women could use to avoid infection without being dependent on their sexual partners.
He said that effective microbicides could revolutionize the battle against AIDS and mark a turning point in the pandemic.
A weeklong conference on HIV/AIDS has begun in Toronto which has attracted over 30,000 participants from 170 countries. This includes scientists, politicians, advocates, health workers, individuals living with HIV/AIDS and it marks the 25 anniversary of the first reported cases.
Bill and Melinda Gates, who to date have donated over 60 billion dollars to the cause of finding a cure, opened the conference.
An excerpt from the Globe and Mail:
The key to stemming the HIV/AIDS pandemic is getting more power — economic, sexual and legal — into the hands of the world's poorest, most oppressed women.
“We need to put the power to prevent HIV in the hands of women,” Bill Gates said last night at the opening of the 16th International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
Mr. Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. and co-chair of the $62-billion (U.S.) Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that in particular, it must be a priority to develop microbicides and oral prevention drugs, medications that women could use to avoid infection without being dependent on their sexual partners.
He said that effective microbicides could revolutionize the battle against AIDS and mark a turning point in the pandemic.
The local and national media have been writing many articles in preparation of this conference, and I'm sure many more will follow as the week progresses. It has put the pandemic back in the forefront again. Given the 25 million people have died of of this disease in the past 25 years (almost the population of Canada), and given that another estimate 38 million are living with the disease, it should be.
Given that this country is hosting a conference that is bringing together such a diverse group of people who are all working towards the eradication of HIV/AIDS, our Prime Minister should be present.
Where is he? Up in the Arctic somewhere looking to put down some imaginary boundaries so that the polar bears feel more safe.
Stephen Harper missed the boat on this one. His absence shows blatant disregard. His absence reveals a little man. I'm not impressed.
14 comments:
So the PM just HAS to be at absolutely everything?
Come on!
We'll have to agree to disagree.
Besides, the Health Minister was there.
I believe the left is just being itself.
The criticism of the guy to Tony Clement's right was beyond the pale and unprofessional. Uncivilized... political.
If I may... I'd suggest that the AIDS activists refocus on the understanding of how HIV is transmitted and how to prevent transmission.
It seems to me that the focus is on finding a simple pill-cure for AIDS so that folks can go around fornicating like bunnies and sharing needles for their heroin fun and whatnot...
What if there will never be a cure? What if it will always be a terminal disease?
If AIDS activists only focus on demanding taxpayer funding for research into a drug cure, then they run the risk of encouraging more and more folks to go do as they please on the false assumption that there's nothing to worry about; there'll be a drug to take care of that, just like with diabetes or asthma.
That is irresponsible, unethical and immoral: to fool folks into believing that they needn't fear AIDS and can therefore do howsoever and whatsoever they please... and then die a slow, painful death.
Whatever happened to the education about HIV, its transmission methods, its deleterious health effects... and the grave, grave reminder that it's terminal and that victims will suffer?
We must keep politics and false hope out of this.
People must be warned that if they do certain things, they're playing with danger... not falsely assured that all is fine; don't worry, be happy...
Well, that's my position.
As an aside: the PM's absence will not hurt him politically. Why? Those who want to believe that HIV isn't something that they should take personal responsibility for making sure they don't get it and they don't spread it aren't going to vote Conservative, ever. The attacks on the PM I foresaw.
Don't forget about personal responsibility. And don't forget that we Conservatives believe in personal responsibility first of all. Why should it be the government's fault or responsiblity that folks go around doing infectiously dangerous things and get terminally ill as a consequence?
It's great to help scientists research the HIV virus and hopefully develop a drug which could combat it, but we can't afford to get our hopes up.
It's like if I were to believe false promises that someday I will hear again. It's wrong to give false hope to people. If I could've prevented the hearing loss with knowledge of what could cause it, I would.
But folks don't take personal responsiblity sometimes: someone I know has diabetes, yet pretty much just eats candy all the time. The consequence? He's losing his eyesight! It's sad...
Our society must focus once again on being serious about real life and taking responsiblity for oneself, as often there's no one to blame for deleterious consequences but ourselves. And we need to know the truth first!
To put it briefly, Sentinel, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
This conference is so much more important than what he was doing up north. Harper likes to send his minions to things he doesn't want to go to. He sent Public Works Minister to the Outgames, and now Tony CLement to this. I bet if this was a young (Canadian) republicans convention Harper would have been front and centre.
Is it time to overthrow the government yet?
It is an interesting issue. I think that he should have been there, but at the same time I understand why he was not (from a political perspective). He was going to be asked to show leadership to the world on AIDS research and the AIDS crisis in Africa, he is not going to do that, and did not want to get attacked for not doing it. That I understand. LIke I say i don't agree, but I get it.
Sentinel Guy......yeah, we will have to agree to disagree. But before I do that I have some stuff to say..........
Get out of your cave!
The PM doesn't have to be at everything, but this AIDS conference is not just small change. It is an international venue, receiving national attention attended by all walks of life.
I feel for Tony Clement. Because his boss didn't have the balls to show his face at such an important event, as a host representing his country, Clement got nailed. He wasn't booed..........his party was.
The focus of the conference is to refocus on prevention. If you read the Globe article and all the other articles emanating out of the conference, Melinda Gates is heading up the refocusing on preventative medicines and research testing on them that would eliminate the transmission of the disease from moms to their babes.
There are many other diseases that don't get the same recognition as AIDS, however it's important to bear in mind that this is epidemic in Africa.........where women and children are being affected by the millions. There are millions of orphans now being raised by the state and/or their grandparents. It is a ravaging out of control disease that we must not only be aware of, but educate ourselves and support the ongoing research and treatments.
It is beyond slapping our so called values on top of and hoping that it will go away.
The only way we can internationally gain some ground on this disease is to involve all types of professionals......politicians, scientists, frontline workers, doctors and local leaders..... and by putting the women in Africa in the lead.
Will this hurt Harper's next run? You bet it will. He is a PM overseeing a minority govt. Despite the fact that he's running things like it's a majority, he still doesn't have enough votes to win majority numbers. That means, he needs to secure new voters. Harper seems to go one step forward (his rescue mission to Cyprus) and two steps back (not recognizing and participating in this conference, and appointing a Liberal ex-Pakistani military guy MP to oversee mediation with Afghanistan and Middle East.....Hello????). I find it all a bit frustrating and confusing.
His absence in Toronto this week is stupid. I don't care what his God believes.
Seems to be an emotional issue, as well as political.
Unfortunately.
And unfortunate, yes.
But like I said, as well as funding research into HIV and possible drug therapies... there must not be a turning-away of focus on understanding and prevention. But I see this has happened. I remember the emphasis of the past: warnings of how serious and terminal the disease is and how and how easily it's transmitted and how to prevent it. But I see little of this in the Western World, which should know better.
That being said, how, if the Western World has lost its intelligent approach to the disease, can it realisitcally hope to help in the rest of the world? I don't realisitcally see how. Seems the focus is on false drug-related hope. Yes, of bloody course, the research must continue, but the focus must also return in the meantime to smartening up so as to not get infected in the first place.
Does anyone want to disagree with that? Or just think what's politically correct?
Is it ok to go and get infected, period? Just 'cause there's money being tossed at scientists with no guarantee of any breakthrough?
The issue has been politicized. This is sad. After all, when the Liberals were in power, they didn't really do much else other than go to these big events... just for the photo-ops and the resultant popularity. It was George Bush who got more serious than the Canadian Liberals, in fact! He spoke of Africa and earmarked lots of cash for research, drugs, etc...
So let's be smart about it and do the best we can and not accuse folks of not caring just because they're not going to give false hope via photo-ops, which is what it'd have been with the PM's presence. It's possible he didn't want to be political, but did send a government rep, which is perfectly proper. Some don't like that? They're entitled to their opinion.
Besides, do we really know how much he cares or not? Who knows what the gov't's agenda is? What if it's far better than we think and far more useful than just showing one's face everywhere?
Results matter more than optics.
And we care about results, not optics and politics.
And, Leftfield... overthrowing Free-World democratically-elected gov'ts will never help in the whole HIV issue. IF any gov't's should be overthrown, then it'd be those like Mugabe's tyranny in Zimbabwe, where he could give a flying frig about sick folks. Nothing we can do will help Zimbabweans as long as there's a dictator who actually wants folks to die and has them killed!
That part of the world is not free; ours is. Therefore, the only way we can really help is to overthrow THOSE regimes, else what can we really do? The tyrants will always stand in the way, regardless of what the MSM tells us (they don't want to understand the problem of evil tyrants standing in the way of the helping of people).
But I don't really expect much agreement with my position, as it doesn't conform to emotion nor to political correctness.
I've learned long ago that emotion and political correctness don't help a bloody thing; pure intelligence and problem solving foci do!
Your views are your right. But ask yourselves: what is most likely to actually help: emotion or intelligence and action?
And, Awareness, how did this become about the PM's religion?
Never heard anything about religion having anything to do with it.
Surely you're not going to assume that a person's religion might make them want people to die... unless it's fundamentalist Islam... which opens a whole new dimension in this debate, as many nations with an AIDS epidemic are Islamic theocracies/dictatorships run by folks who, regardless of what we're told, are required by Islam to want certain folks dead.
Politically incorrect to say? Oh, yes, but true.
This issue is far more complex than we're being told!
Do we want to really understand, or do we want to merely think what we're being told to think?
Aren't we a free people here?
Be suspicious when told that money and government will always solve complex, difficult problems, just like that. Blind faith in the almighty buck and the state never solved any problems!
In a nutshell:
What, in the long run, will help in Africa, etc. wrt lessening the epidemic?
The best thing we can do is ensure that, first, the people of the non-Free World are made free and have human rights guaranteed. Then we can ensure that they receive proper education on the HIV issue and understand how it's contracted and how to prevent it.
While a laudable and necessary goal, pursuing a treatment/control/cure isn't going to help much if more and more folks keep catching HIV and spreading it to more and more folks locally and internationally... due to being uneducated... which is, in turn, due to their lack of enjoyment of human rights in the non-Free nations where they live. The dictators don't care if the people die or not, therefore they won't cooperate and will probably confiscate drugs and sell them to buy weapons or Rolls Royces or something.
Think: what's the likelihood of a cure for AIDS/HIV? We still haven't found a preventative/cure for the common cold. But HIV is far, far, far easier and more likely prevented than the common cold, so we can use that fact as a weapon in the war against HIV!
The best cure is PREVENTION!
And how much are AIDS activists talking about real, commonsense prevention these days, as opposed to demanding money to throw at the problem in the blind faith that that's THE solution?
Well, that's my position.
Am I the only one, aside from Canuckguy, who's really going to get seriously thinking about the problem?
Those who want to help solve the problem will never do so by attacking politicians for simply not attending what is essentially a photo-op and nothing more.
Besides, the convention is about money, not getting to the root causes and addressing them. Just money... throw as much at them as we can and they'll solve the whole problem by waving the dollar bills at it?!
Sorry, but they have done and said NOTHING to convince me that they understand it at all!
Oh, and it's my position that the PM's absence is not a big deal. Simply saying a few nice words and getting your picture taken for the paper will NOT save lives or prevent HIV transmission!
Not to worry... no antagonism intended towards anyone... but I'm not the only one feeling a bit warm about this stuff, am I, now? ;-)
Whoa..........lots of emotional and intellectual discussion added by Monsieur Sentinel. Thank you for your frank talk.
Unfortunately, I'm a little tight for time to address all of your salient points, my blogger buddy, as I am off to pursue important matters......... "up north" Though I'm not going as far north as our fine upstanding PM who has gone into the bush to avoid HIV contact, I will be enjoying the beautiful Canadian shield vista avec ma fille....... a bit of Loon calling, canoeing and gunnel bobbing.
Margaret Wente is on fire today. So, I let her words speak for me.
I'll be back!!!!!!
Sounds like y'all're gonna have a great time! Hope y'all do!
And what's "gunnel bobbing"? Sounds like something from the Beverly Hillbillies...
BTW, seems there's two schools of thought on whether the PM has to be at just everything some folks think he should be at.
IMHO, while the matter of a serious, terminal disease is important, it is still possible to address it appropriately via delegation. What if the trip to CFB Alert (my brother was once stationed there- the furthest north station on earth) was already planned and coincided with the AIDS thing? Should the Defence Minister have gone to Alert to represent Canada's assertion of sovereignty over her own land rather than the PM?
I gotta be the mean guy here among the kittens and baby bunnies... the PM did NOT do wrong...
But it's ok to have differing views. You think WE differ? You should see the arguments I have with my family members, who're all liberals... *sigh*...
Hey CS. You make me laugh! I enjoy our differing of opinions.
Gunnel bobbing? Didn't get a chance this time ........ however..... it's when two people stand on the end of the canoe, balancing and bouncing the canoe up and down for as long as they can stand.
I thought all Canucks knew how to do this?? :)
So that's what gunnel bobbing is.
Never heard of it, despite being a Snow Monkey.
Besides, I was always warned to never stand up in a canoe.
That warning makes sense... if you've watched enough of America's Funniest Home Videos... as it makes sense also for a daddy to not stand too close while the kid is swinging the baseball bat at gonad level...
Gee C.S.
I always thought all Canadian boys knew how to gunnel bob and make love in a canoe!!
Yeah, never stand up in a canoe...... you got that right.
Well, it might be an interesting experience to make lo... (ah, what they hey, I'll say "screw" as it rhymes) in a canoe.
Maybe Shania Twain would like to teach me... oh, crap... she's married!
Just my luck... the good ones are either married or lesbo or moonbat... *sigh*... such a hardship case I am...
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