AIDS in America
The CDC reports that 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV. Blacks, only 13% of the population, account for 42% of new infections. Whites, 76% of the population, account for 25%. Latinos, 18% of the population, account for 27%.
Perhaps that explains why Blacks dominate commercial ads for HIV drugs.
AIDS Worldwide
According to HIV.gov, 38 million people globally live with HIV:
The vast majority of people living with HIV are in low-to-middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. 1.8 million children worldwide are living with HIV. Most of these children were infected by their HIV-positive mothers during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
The statistics are grim, but there’s a silver lining: AIDS-related deaths worldwide have dropped from a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s to 690,000 in 2019.
On World AIDS Day in 2014, the BBC noted that HIV has become much less infectious, making transmission far harder than 20 years ago. The BBC cited studies conducted in South Africa.
PEPFAR and US leadership
President Donald Trump spent the past two years pretending COVID-19 didn’t exist. So, it’s hardly surprising that he spent the past four years pretending HIV didn’t either.
His Twitter archives contain just two tweets about HIV. Compare that to over 20 about golf.
Still, Trump did one thing right — he continued funding the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), created by George W. Bush in 2003. Former President George W. Bush created this program in 2003.
The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that PEPFAR has provided $90 billion in funding. That makes it the largest effort in history by a single nation to combat a single disease.
iPINIONS was so impressed with PEPFAR and Bush’s unprecedented initiatives in Africa that I wrote “President Bush Has Done More for Africa than Any Other President,” June 20, 2005.
Former President Bill Clinton deserves honorable mention for founding the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in 2002. The Clinton Foundation describes it as:
[It is] a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems in the developing world and expanding access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. …
Since its inception, CHAI has helped more than 2 million people access the medicines needed for treatment, which represents nearly half of all the people living with HIV and on treatment in developing countries.
Of course, Clinton also founded the Clinton Global Initiative in 2005. It raises private funds to fight poverty, clean up the environment, and expand access to health care and education. Think what you will about his presidency, but Clinton is giving Jimmy Carter a run for the title of best former president in US history.
Former President Barack Obama promised an annual $1 billion increase in PEPFAR funding. However, he failed to deliver on this promise.
AIDS activists expressed bitter disappointment over President Obama’s proposal to cut $200 million from the global AIDS budget for FY 2016. The President’s budget fails to restore cuts made since 2011 in PEPFAR, and reduces by nearly $250 million the US contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
This reduction to global AIDS programs from FY15 (enacted) amplifies years of underfinancing, leaving PEPFAR short of funds needed to carry out its mission.
(Health GAP – Global Access Project, February 2, 2015)
To be fair, these cuts probably had more to do with prevailing budget constraints. Not to mention the partisan determination of congressional Republicans to obstruct any initiative Obama supported. And they controlled the government’s purse.
Indeed, even if funding were available, Republicans might have opposed it. They applauded Bush for funding PEPFAR. But they might’ve accused Obama of misusing funds for a pan-African agenda. That’s absurd, but Republicans routinely accused Obama of things that are even more absurd.
Magic Johnson
Erving “Magic” Johnson deserves an honorable mention for doing more than anyone to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.
He’s become the poster boy for showing how fulfilling life can be even while living with this virus. This year marks 29 years of Johnson thriving with HIV.
Keep hope alive…
* This commentary was originally published on December 1, 2021. All stats cited are relatively the same today.
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