OTGV #22 - Aids Series 2/5 - The World Outside
Broadcast Date: 09/12/02
The HIV/AIDS infections is now a pandemic and no longer an epidemic.
It now covers almost the entire world, and yet it keeps growing and growing.
According to UNAIDS statistics, the number of people living with AIDs is now at 42 million.
Hi, welcome to On the Grapevine with me Chong Ching Liang.
Despite having been tracked and studied for nearly two decades, the rate of increase just keep accelerating.
Dr MeeChai Viravaidya is the appointed Ambassador for UN-AIDS.
He has been an incessant presence in the fight against AIDS in Thailand and he paints for us the extent of the growing pandemic.
"AIDS death each year is 3 million and going up. I mean, the whole of Singapore is dying every year. Can you imagine that? The whole of Singapore dies every year! But that's the current situation in many, many parts of the world."
AIDs/HIV threatens not just economically but socially.
Director of HIV/AIDS Research Division, University of Natal, South Africa Alan Whiteside explains.
"AIDS can either be extremely divisive to a nation or it can be a nation-building force. It depends on how the nation responds to it. In the worst situation, what you find is that people are not open about HIV. They know there's a problem in their midst. They don' know the magnitude of their problem. They can see their friends dying and falling ill. They're not entirely sure why. There's no leadership."
Countries must look at AIDS issue as a humanitarian problem, not mere statistics to be cast aside if the infection rate is too small.
President of Action of Action for AIDs, Dr Roy Chan revisits the AIDS situation in Singapore.
"While the absolute numbers in Singapore may not be very high, per capita infection rates tell a different story. When we compare these stories, we find that HIV here is more prevalent than many other developed countries in Europe, in Asia. Our HIV prevalence is 0.146 percent amongst adults compared to 0.12 in Australia, 0.12 in the UK and a much lower rate in Japan. But numbers do not the full story. More important than numbers is the fact that AIDS have now touched the lives of thousands of Singaporeans. We have lost and continue to lose friends, family members, fellow workers and fellow citizens to AIDS."
But the adults aren't the most at risk, warns UN-AIDS' Senior Epidemiologist Bernhard Schwartlander
"AIDS hits young people in ages when they are the most productive. That leads to traumatic impacts on development, on economies and on households in many parts of this world. You can imagine the impact this has on economies for example. In a company, when a quarter, or more than a quarter of the labour force is HIV positive, that company may run into serious trouble in the future."
Sadly and most unfortunately, it is only when the economic costs of AIDS becomes obvious, then will actions be taken.
One of the largest mining companies in South Africa, AngloGold estimates up to 30 percent of its workers.
Faced with this challenge to its future productivity, the company is now dispensing the expensive "triple cocktail" of anti-retroviral drugs to its AIDS infected employees for free.
In Southern Africa, where the AIDS problem is at its most acute, it’s political and business leaders are stirring from their stupor.
Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr Peter Piot.
"I believe we are now at a turning point in the 20-year history of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Everywhere I go, I hear the top African leaders speaking out about AIDS as the major threat to the continent’s development. This gives me grounds for hope that in the coming years, we will see stronger, more effective responses to AIDS in many more sub-Saharan African nations."
It's about time, says Dr Meechai.
He says AIDS has the potential to de-stabilise a country.
"In most part of the world, national security issues is are from the inside. HIV/AIDS is already changing not only individual fate but fates of nation. In many African countries, a quarter of the adults is affected. The workforce is being depleted. The most skilled people are dying. Teachers, engineers, doctors, soldiers, the whole works. Probably the next Prime Minister will be younger than William Pitt, younger than 21 because there's nobody older than that."
So far, the focus of the world when it comes to AIDS has been trained at the males.
But as the situation in Southern Africa indicates, it is the females that are increasing carrying the burden of the infection.
But going beyond gender, Asia may soon catch up with Africa in terms of infected individuals.
"AIDS is not a health problem. It’s a development problem, it’s a societal problem. For Singapore , it's a small problem today but for many, many countries, it is bigger than war. Before long we can say there will be more people who died from AIDS than all Asians that have died from wars in the whole history of Asia. That will happen."
The culprit for the spread of the AIDS isn't always an individual's lifestyle, lechery or inclinations.
The most culpable of culprits belongs to those in charge of governance says Dr Meechai.
"Why we have allowed this to happen? It is the lack of political leadership. How many leaders in the world has stood up, understood the fight against AIDS and willing to put up a good show? Some has remain totally silent. And not just the leaders of a country, leaders’ politics, business as a whole begins always with denial and then before actions takes place, so many people has been condemned."
For the anti-AIDS campaigners, the key to fighting the scourge must be transparency at all levels of society.
Only then can education takes place to dispel prejudices and discrimination.
And perhaps only then, true rehabilitation and the search for cure be more meaningful for the infected.
Tune in to the next installment as I look at how the pandemic can be combated.
This is Chong Ching Liang for Newsradio 938.
=========================
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com
Action for Aids
http://www.afa.org.sg
Ministry of Health, Singapore
http://www.moh.gov.sg
http://www.moh.gov.sg/corp/about/newsroom/speeches/details.do?id=29294601
World AIDS Conference 2004
http://www.aids2004.org/
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp
The HIV/AIDS infections is now a pandemic and no longer an epidemic.
It now covers almost the entire world, and yet it keeps growing and growing.
According to UNAIDS statistics, the number of people living with AIDs is now at 42 million.
Hi, welcome to On the Grapevine with me Chong Ching Liang.
Despite having been tracked and studied for nearly two decades, the rate of increase just keep accelerating.
Dr MeeChai Viravaidya is the appointed Ambassador for UN-AIDS.
He has been an incessant presence in the fight against AIDS in Thailand and he paints for us the extent of the growing pandemic.
"AIDS death each year is 3 million and going up. I mean, the whole of Singapore is dying every year. Can you imagine that? The whole of Singapore dies every year! But that's the current situation in many, many parts of the world."
AIDs/HIV threatens not just economically but socially.
Director of HIV/AIDS Research Division, University of Natal, South Africa Alan Whiteside explains.
"AIDS can either be extremely divisive to a nation or it can be a nation-building force. It depends on how the nation responds to it. In the worst situation, what you find is that people are not open about HIV. They know there's a problem in their midst. They don' know the magnitude of their problem. They can see their friends dying and falling ill. They're not entirely sure why. There's no leadership."
Countries must look at AIDS issue as a humanitarian problem, not mere statistics to be cast aside if the infection rate is too small.
President of Action of Action for AIDs, Dr Roy Chan revisits the AIDS situation in Singapore.
"While the absolute numbers in Singapore may not be very high, per capita infection rates tell a different story. When we compare these stories, we find that HIV here is more prevalent than many other developed countries in Europe, in Asia. Our HIV prevalence is 0.146 percent amongst adults compared to 0.12 in Australia, 0.12 in the UK and a much lower rate in Japan. But numbers do not the full story. More important than numbers is the fact that AIDS have now touched the lives of thousands of Singaporeans. We have lost and continue to lose friends, family members, fellow workers and fellow citizens to AIDS."
But the adults aren't the most at risk, warns UN-AIDS' Senior Epidemiologist Bernhard Schwartlander
"AIDS hits young people in ages when they are the most productive. That leads to traumatic impacts on development, on economies and on households in many parts of this world. You can imagine the impact this has on economies for example. In a company, when a quarter, or more than a quarter of the labour force is HIV positive, that company may run into serious trouble in the future."
Sadly and most unfortunately, it is only when the economic costs of AIDS becomes obvious, then will actions be taken.
One of the largest mining companies in South Africa, AngloGold estimates up to 30 percent of its workers.
Faced with this challenge to its future productivity, the company is now dispensing the expensive "triple cocktail" of anti-retroviral drugs to its AIDS infected employees for free.
In Southern Africa, where the AIDS problem is at its most acute, it’s political and business leaders are stirring from their stupor.
Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr Peter Piot.
"I believe we are now at a turning point in the 20-year history of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Everywhere I go, I hear the top African leaders speaking out about AIDS as the major threat to the continent’s development. This gives me grounds for hope that in the coming years, we will see stronger, more effective responses to AIDS in many more sub-Saharan African nations."
It's about time, says Dr Meechai.
He says AIDS has the potential to de-stabilise a country.
"In most part of the world, national security issues is are from the inside. HIV/AIDS is already changing not only individual fate but fates of nation. In many African countries, a quarter of the adults is affected. The workforce is being depleted. The most skilled people are dying. Teachers, engineers, doctors, soldiers, the whole works. Probably the next Prime Minister will be younger than William Pitt, younger than 21 because there's nobody older than that."
So far, the focus of the world when it comes to AIDS has been trained at the males.
But as the situation in Southern Africa indicates, it is the females that are increasing carrying the burden of the infection.
But going beyond gender, Asia may soon catch up with Africa in terms of infected individuals.
"AIDS is not a health problem. It’s a development problem, it’s a societal problem. For Singapore , it's a small problem today but for many, many countries, it is bigger than war. Before long we can say there will be more people who died from AIDS than all Asians that have died from wars in the whole history of Asia. That will happen."
The culprit for the spread of the AIDS isn't always an individual's lifestyle, lechery or inclinations.
The most culpable of culprits belongs to those in charge of governance says Dr Meechai.
"Why we have allowed this to happen? It is the lack of political leadership. How many leaders in the world has stood up, understood the fight against AIDS and willing to put up a good show? Some has remain totally silent. And not just the leaders of a country, leaders’ politics, business as a whole begins always with denial and then before actions takes place, so many people has been condemned."
For the anti-AIDS campaigners, the key to fighting the scourge must be transparency at all levels of society.
Only then can education takes place to dispel prejudices and discrimination.
And perhaps only then, true rehabilitation and the search for cure be more meaningful for the infected.
Tune in to the next installment as I look at how the pandemic can be combated.
This is Chong Ching Liang for Newsradio 938.
=========================
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com
Action for Aids
http://www.afa.org.sg
Ministry of Health, Singapore
http://www.moh.gov.sg
http://www.moh.gov.sg/corp/about/newsroom/speeches/details.do?id=29294601
World AIDS Conference 2004
http://www.aids2004.org/
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
http://www.unaids.org/en/default.asp
posted by CHONG Ching-liang | 5:41 PM
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