Surprisingly, some people have realized that fighting AIDS is not just fighting disease. We can have the best medicine available to us, but people have to take it. People can take their medicine, but they also have to eat. They have to be able to walk safely to the clinic for their checkups. They have to be able to receive treatment for other illnesses. They have to be free to live, work, and be people. We can't just give them some drugs and hope the problem will go away.
Is that what the Gates Foundation is doing, though? Yes, their AIDS efforts are focusing on antiretroviral therapy. They also fund education programs. And nutrition efforts. Community-based programs. People like to describe them as a giant band-aid, throwing money at a problem that money can't fix. Well, I'm reminded of the bumper sticker: 'Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.' Money can't fix the AIDS pandemic. Drugs can't fix it. Politically charged statements by ex-presidents can't fix it. Devout reliance on either abstinence training or condoms can't fix it. But ignoring the problem can't, either, nor can fighting about it. If we all take a step in the same direction from our different starting points, maybe we'll end up at the finish line together.
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I like the part in the last paragraph of the article about “pay[ing] for a new world”. Holism is the final answer. In the meantime, we do what we can in our corner. We just have to keep up the dialogue so that all our efforts are magnified by coordination rather than frustrated by isolation.
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