Global AIDS Epidemic A Myth, Experts Say

Remember, we just TRIPLED our funding for fighting the global AIDS epidemic, to $50 billion over 5 years. Fifty billion dollars we don’t have, for what experts are now calling a myth:

The threat of a global AIDS epidemic is over, the World Health Organisation’s top HIV expert has admitted.

Kevin De Cock, who has spent most of his career leading the battle against the disease, said the understanding of the threat posed by the virus had changed.

Rather than being a risk to populations anywhere, the threat is largely confined to gay men, drug addicts and prostitutes and their clients.

So, why in the world would we be tripling our funding if Dr. De Cock is correct, and the issue is a myth? Because the United Nations lies:

The concession comes just months after the United Nations admitted overstating the threat of AIDS, slashing estimates of the number of people with HIV worldwide from nearly 40million to 33million.

Don’t get me wrong. AIDS is a terrible disease, one no one should suffer. But it is really quite preventable. Look again at the first blockquote: “…the threat is largely confined to gay men, drug addicts and prostitutes and their clients.”

And it kills millions:

In all, there were 33million people living with HIV in 2007 - around two-thirds of which were in Africa.

Around 2.5million people became infected with HIV and 2.1million died of AIDS.

In Britain, the rate of infection has tripled in ten years - to one of the highest in the EU.

In 2006, there were 8,925 cases diagnosed - only Estonia and Portugal had worse rates.

However,

The majority of cases were in gay men and immigrants who contracted the disease overseas.

As I wrote in an earlier post:

Now, I know there are some bleeding heart liberals out there reading this and they are wondering how I can be so heartless (or maybe this is what they expect from us heartless conserva-tarians). Let me explain to you why, using something liberals are allergic to - facts:

• Heart Disease: The number one cause of death in the United States, 21 million new cases of heart disease are reported each year, with 724,859 Americans dying from heart disease in 1998.[5] The National Institutes for Health (NIH) will fund the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at an estimated $2.6 billion–or $3,541 for each death from heart, lung, or blood disease.
• Cancer: The second leading cause of death in the United States, in 1999 549,838 people died of cancer. The NIH expects to fund the National Cancer Institute at an estimated $4.2 billion in 2002–or $7,713 for each death from cancer.
• Breast Cancer: With 180,000 new cases each year, breast cancer is the leading cause of death among American women who are forty to fifty-five years of age. Each year about 46,000 women die of the disease. The NIH is currently spending $396 million on breast cancer research–or $8,608 per death from the disease.
• Diabetes: According to the CDC, seven million Americans have diabetes–the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. In 1999 64,751 died from complications associated with diabetes. The NIH has budgeted $450 million for diabetes research–or $6,949 per death from diabetes.
• AIDS: By comparison, in 2000, 23,932 people were diagnosed with AIDS. In that year, 8,867 people died from the disease. According to the NIH Office of AIDS Research, $2.5 billion has been proposed for AIDS research programs within the NIH in fiscal year 2002, with that figure increasing to more than $2.7 billion in 2003. The current (2002) budget amounts to an astounding $265,591 per AIDS death. This figure does not include the public monies spent to treat AIDS through federal Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources (CARE) Act. Funding for CARE is currently $1.8 billion–an additional $202,999 per AIDS death.

According to a 2004 report, “In 2000, 4.5 million Americans were suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. This number is expected to increase nearly three-fold to 13.2 million by 2050 (Hebert, et al.). By contrast, the number of people with AIDS is less than 400,000.” Yet the FAIR Foundation noted at the time:

NIH research money budgeted per death is $162,790 for AIDS versus $10,245 for Alzheimer’s.

There are better things to spend this money on than a mythical epidemic of a disease that is preventable.