Global Aids Day

As Andrew Sullivan notes (http://time.blogs.com/daily_dish/), the efficiency of ribbons, and ribbon days such as today seem frustratingly small as gestures go, but if there is a valid reason to be reminded of a pressing need it is the AIDS emergency. As Bono has said, history will probably judge us on how we act in the face of this emergency, and that it is indeed not merely an epedemic, but an emergency. There is so much possible and yet not acted upon in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS.

It is sad then, that the newly appointed head of Family Planning at the HHS is Dr. Eric Keroak, a doctor who comes complete with a theory (formed on the basis of a prairie vole experiment) that humans lose the ability (chemically!) to form trusting relationships if they have too much out-of-wedlock sex. He has also said condoms offer "virtually" no protection against herpes. As medical director for Women's Services he headed an organization which, by charter, "does not distribute, or encourage the use of, contraceptive drugs and devices. … A Woman's Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality, and adverse to human health and happiness." So there's that. Add that to the new HHS push to encourage abstinence for everyone under thirty years of age, and you have a lot of wasted momentum and capital that could be used to fight the AIDS emergency here in the US.

On the bright side, President Bush has pledged millions of dollars toward fighting AIDS in Africa. President Clinton has been part of an effort to produce generic drugs to treat HIV/AIDS in children in developing countries for sixty dollars a year, where today only one out of ten children with AIDS gets any treatment at all. This seems like a key component of fighting AIDS in developing countries. If we can treat chldren, we can help destroy the stigma that may give many societies and better fighting chance down the road.