Originally published December 18 2005
World Health Organization's AIDS program projected unrealistic goals from the outset
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Economist candidly discusses the failures of the 3 x 5 initiative, an AIDS program that intended to get three million people in economically depressed regions on anti-virals.
In that context, the release of this year's "AIDS epidemic update", the annual report on the disease by UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation (WHO), may give the reader a slightly uneasy feeling.
For, alongside the awful, inexorable figures---the number of people infected is now more than 40m, and more than 3m died last year alone---something has inexplicably vanished.
This had the aim, by the end of 2005, of getting 3m people in poor and middle-income countries on to the antiviral drugs that sufferers in rich countries have come to regard as their birthright.
Advertisement Presumably, that is because reality is going to fall woefully short of ambition.
Since then, things have gone rather quiet.
And that is a pity, for there is enough genuine uncertainty surrounding AIDS, without manufacturing more.
Reality check The reason for worrying about all this is not that the target was missed, but that the feasibility of reaching it was based on a set of over optimistic modelling assumptions about such things as the effectiveness of drug distribution networks and the competence of local health services.
It would be a pity if poor planning meant that objective were missed, too.
There was also some confusion around what looks, at first sight, like a piece of rare good news---that four countries previously regarded as AIDS basket-cases, namely Burkino Faso, Haiti, Kenya and Zimbabwe---had seen a fall in the prevalence of infection with HIV, the virus that causes the disease.
Certainly, as the report acknowledges, 80% of the decline in prevalence in a heavily studied part of Uganda was caused by such a die-off---and Uganda has, in the past, been trumpeted as the first, best example of a country that has got its epidemic under control.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml