Control AIDS, save a continent

KARA SCHNEIDER GUEST WRITER KAS728@CABRINI EDU

How do you save a continent that’s being decimated by a potent and commanding disease called AIDS? There are many community-based organizations along with worldwide programs are attempting to control and prevent the spread of AIDS. These organizations reach out to individuals in the United States and elsewhere to assist. Global organizations hold promise to bringing worldwide attention to this devastating disease. The HIV/ AIDS pandemic has affected over 60 million people in the world; 20 million people died of AIDS overall and in Africa it is the No. 1 cause of death.

Catholic Relief Services, with its main headquarters in Baltimore, Md., is an international organization that works with partners in 100 countries throughout the world and strives to create an impact worldwide that will bring about new hope in the battles of hunger, war and disease along with other global struggles. CRS began its first HIV/AIDS program in Thailand in 1986. As of today, CRS currently runs AIDS programs in 52 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief

Services, said in an interview that when he was transferred to Kenya in 1992 he was astonished by the heartbreaking and appalling effects of AIDS upon the African citizens that had worsened since the 1980s, the last time he had lived there. As Hackett asked about old friends he learned that many had died at a very young age. He began to ponder and questioned why they had died- “and it all turned out to be from AIDS.” He concluded that “Catholic Relief Services has to do something.”

The United States has also recognized that to reduce poverty, the spread of HIV/AIDS has to be lessened or even eradicated. President Bush has developed an emergency plan for AIDS relief known as PEPFAR, President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, which is the biggest initiative by any one country dedicated to HIV/AIDS.

“The things that we take for granted here in the United States, like access to these antiretroviral drugs, are not available in Africa. And until the AIDS relief and the president’s initiative and other HIV/ AIDS relief efforts began to take hold this disease was a death sentence for people,”

Joan Neal, executive vice president for U.S. Operations at CRS, said.

Another major organization, The Global Fund, has committed itself to coordinating and providing 1.8 million people with antiretroviral treatment.. The Global Fund has distributed over $10.1 billion to over 136 countries in the world. This unique program will reach 62 million people in hopes that they will receive voluntary counseling and testing services for HIV prevention. exclusive conference call.

Every individual can make a difference.

A local example of a single person finding a way to make change is Ryan Keith of Mechanicsburg, Pa., the founder and president of Forgotten Voices International. This organization relieves and assists the HIV/AIDS pandemic by funding local churches and community programs to help better serve nations in need.

“The biggest thing to do to help our organization and organizations like ours is tell our story. Our story is a story about local people helping people in their community,” Keith said.

The Red Campaign, with their slogan, “Think Red. Think Stop. Think Now!” is a business model that gives the money that they raise to Sub-Saharan Africa for anti-retroviral drugs by selling (RED) products. By buying (RED) products, you can help one more person in Africa live the life that they deserve to live, just like everybody else in the world.

Although differences between the House version and the Senate version will have to be resolved, both versions support an unprecedented $50 billion to be spent over five years.

On April 11, four Senators put PEPFAR on hold, meaning that PEPFAR cannot continue through legislation until all senators agree to pass the bill. Sen. Tom Colburn of Oklahoma initiated the hold believing that the $50 billion increase is too large.

Colburn states he will keep his hold on PEPFAR until the amount is dropped to the initial proposal. Sen. Jim DeMint from South Carolina agrees with Colburn’s letter and quoted in remarks, “ I think it’s the height of irresponsibility in the middle of a war and surging debts for us to be dramatically increasing the cost and the scope of the program.”

“If PEPFAR ended and we do not get renewal funding, then that would imply we will have left them midway. Now that we have engage them in PEPFAR, the renewal would imply taking them through to maturity and there will be a tangible benefit,” Kenyan Clinical Officer Robert Makunu said in a Loquitur interview.

AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death around the world and has killed at least 20 million. Sixty million are infected with HIV/AIDS. Fourteen million are orphans worldwide.

As of March 31, 2007, AIDS relief from the United States supported lifesaving antiretroviral treatment for more than 1 million men, women and children suffering with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

“I can say that it has brought along a lot of joy and happiness into the lives of people. It has prolonged the lives of some people who have otherwise been dead. How can I not say that the PEPFAR program is not a wonderful program? This is a great program and I wish for this program to continue for the years to come,” Awiapo said.