by Monreale
From the Center for
Disease Control, Sept. 27, 2015:
"National Gay Men's
HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is observed each year on September 27 to direct
attention to the ongoing and disproportionate impact of human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) on gay, bisexual,
and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in the United States. MSM
represent approximately 2% of the U.S. population. However, MSM accounted for
67% of all new HIV diagnoses." (emphasis supplied)
In the last few weeks
the San Francisco Chronicle has run a series of stories, often making the front
page, on the heroism and selflessness of gay men who have combated AIDS. Today
the story turned in a similar vein toward women with AIDS. Some reflections
follow.
Act Up is the
international direct action advocacy group that presses for legislation and
funding to benefit those with HIV/AIDS. They have been astoundingly successful.
Their primary tactic has been to sell the notion that HIV/AIDS is largely a
heterosexual disease. In fact, the overwhelming majority of cases involve
homosexual men, often men who have vehemently rejected prudent measures to
limit the spread of the disease, measures that are mandatory concerning every
other serious infectious disease. Testifying to their influence is the recent
capitulation by the FDA in lifting its long-standing ban on gays donating
blood, a ban which Act Up decried as "stigmatizing." A friend of
mine, an internationally recognized blood researcher whose work on the Zika
virus was recently mentioned in the New York Times, told me there is no medical
justification for the FDA's action--"it's all politics."
The signal victory
scored by Act Up and their allies has been the imbalance in Federal funds spent
on HIV/AIDS medical research. NIH spends more on this research than on any one
of the other 70 diseases and medical conditions it funds, more than breast
cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's,
substance abuse, mental health and so on. Not to mention the enormous sums,
much more than on research, that the government spends on the care of those
with HIV/AIDS.
Significant progress has
been made in treating HIV/AIDS, a disease that affects a very small segment of
our population, much of which has exhibited a reckless disregard for their own
safety as well as the safety of the broader public. Regardless, this progress
has saved lives and deserves applause. At the same time we should understand
that the huge taxpayer sums that produced breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS could well
have resulted in similar breakthroughs had they been directed against any one
of the 70 other diseases that have a much broader impact on the American
people.
We need to restore a
sense of proportion in health care funding.
