AIDS in America
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV.
Blacks, representing only 13 percent of the population, account for 42 percent of all new infections. Whites, making up 76 percent of the population, account for 25 percent. Latinos, constituting 18 percent of the population, account for 27 percent.
Perhaps this is why Blacks feature so prominently in 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.
Those statistics are distressing. But there’s a silver lining: AIDS-related deaths worldwide are decreasing. From a peak of 2.2 million in the mid-2000s, deaths dropped to 690,000 in 2019.
The BBC reported on World AIDS Day in 2014 that HIV has become much less infectious. That makes the virus far more difficult to transmit than 20 years ago. The BBC cited studies conducted in South Africa.
PEPFAR and US leadership
President Donald Trump spent much of the past two years pretending Covid-19 does not exist. So, it’s hardly surprising that he spent the past four years pretending HIV does not exist.
A search of his Twitter Archives reveals only two tweets related to this virus over four years. A similar search shows ten times as many tweets about golf.
But at least Trump continued funding for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). 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.
I was so impressed with PEPFAR and Bush’s unprecedented initiatives to promote development 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 establishing the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in 2002. Here is how the Clinton Foundation describes its efforts:
[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 help alleviate poverty, create a cleaner environment, and increase health care and education access. Think whatever you will about his presidency, but Clinton is giving Jimmy Carter a run for the title of the 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 supports. 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. Because he has done more than anyone to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS.
Johnson has also become the poster boy for showing how fulfilling life can still be for someone living with this deadly virus. This year marks his 29th living and thriving with HIV.
Keep hope alive…
* This commentary was originally published on December 1, 2021. All stats cited are relatively the same today.