I finished the book "AIDS in America" by Susan Hunter. This was a required reading if you couldn't attend the panels. I wish I had went to the panels! I felt like this book was a waste of my time, which is very valuable to me right now. In my opinion Susan Hunter uses this book to bash President Bush and the Christian Coalition. I believe her book would have been more credible and would have made a greater impact if she had kept the book as informative rather than playing the "blame game". There were HIV positive people mentioned in the book but with her continuous "blame game" it took away from the real characters in the book. She spends very little time addressing personal responsibility and only vaguely goes into the lives of her characters. I came away after reading her book wishing I had made the drive to Orlando to go to the panels.
Ms. Hunter also spends some time in her book blaming the pharmaceutical companies for the spread of HIV and that their only purpose is to make money. I did some research and came across "HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Other Infectious Disease contributions" from the Hudson Institute (Web:Hudson Institute, 2009). Although this data was from 2004, Ms. Hunters book is from 2006, certainly not current information either way.
"The Merck Foundation provided $50 million to the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership in Botswana. This partnership supports the construction of 32 regional treatment centers and has reached educators in 70 percent of the nation's primary and secondary schools (Web: Hudson, 2009). The Foundation also provides antiretroviral drug treatment for 24,000 of the 26, 000 AIDS patients enrolled. Merck provides HIV/AIDS support for African physicians as well as additional help financially and via medicines to 24 other countries (Web: Hudson, 2009).
Pfizer, Inc. and Bristol Myers Squibb combined contributed over $165 million dollars in the war against HIV/AIDs through various foundations and programs. This money goes towards medications, education, training, labs, supplies, etc. Many of the pharmaceutical companies work with UNAIDS to provide these services (Web: Hudson, 2009).
I know that the pharmaceutical companies are making money, and yes, they could probably donate more, but the point I am making is what would HIV/AIDS be like without their help?
Does bashing and ridculing manufacturers, the government, and groups make things better? Ms. Hunter leads you to believe that the pharmaceutical companies care only about profit and that they don't care about making a difference. I find this hard to believe when I read about people like Daria Hazuda, who is a researcher that discovered Isentress, a newly introduced HIV/AIDS medication that will help many suffering with HIV/AIDS today.
How am I growing in this class? There is no easy solution to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. There are many grey areas for treatment options, testing, methods of control and educational standards. There are also many opinions on why and how we should fix the problem. I believe HIV/AIDS will be around for a very long time. I would be very surprised but thrilled if a cure was develped in my life time. I do think that we are the best nation and have contributed the most to fighting this virus, helping others around the world, and trying to make strides in eradicating it. Should the United States of America turn their backs on other countries, the majority of these countries would have many more deaths each and every year from HIV/AIDS as well as many other devastating illnesses.
My tidbit for this week is from POZ Magazine from Dec. 17, 2007. Thursday's Child, a nonprofit NYC organization is able to remain open due to donations. This organizations helps those with HIV/AIDS with "rent, utility, and food expenses" (Web: POZ, 2009). The organization will be able to stay open through the New Year after almost closing last December when budget cuts took place. Private donations were approximately $85,000. Additional funds were donated by MAC Cosmetics Global AIDS Fund of New York City and Toronto, Dowling College, Smithtown High School (Web: POZ, 2009). This is a good example of people helping people.
Web: Hudson Institute, 2009), A Review of Pharmaceutical Company Contributions: HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria and Other Infectious Diseases, Oct. 2004, retrieved on Nov. 7, 2009 from http://spp.hudson.org/files/publications/AdelmanNorrisPharmCoReview.pdf
Web: POZ Magazine, 2009), Donations Keep AIDS Organization Alivew, Nov. 9, 2009, retrieved from http://www.poz.com/articles
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hey well it's too late now since you've already read the book, but you only had to go to 1 and you could have still gone to the men's panel. It's not until next week. But anyway at least you got it over with. Now that I have a summary of the book, though, I'm really glad I didn't pick the book. I hate reading about government and policies and that kind of thing.
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