UNITED
NATIONS - One may think that folks in San Francisco,
with its reputation for sexual promiscuity, a
large gay population and its perceived casual attitude
toward recreational drugs, are noot the sort
to
be deceived into thinking that AIDS is "an
African problem." But UN Deputy Secretary
General Louise Frechette was there Tuesday to
make the point that it's not. It's the No. 1
fallacy
about the disease, she said. Fact
is, she emphasized, AIDS is and always was a global
problem. Since it was first heard of 20 years ago,
it's traveled far and wide, "to every corner
of the world," making this killer "the
worst epidemic humanity has ever faced."
True,
Frechette said, Africa
has suffered
the heaviest toll so
far, but AIDS is spreading
with frightening speed, "including
in regions not far
from here" --
namely, the Bay area.
(As if San Franciscans
needed any reminder.)
Kofi
Annan's right hand
person traveled
to what is still many
people's favorite American
city to address the
Pacific Council on
International Policy
and introduce a bit
of ginger for AIDS
awareness at a time
when, she acknowledged, "other
serious challenges" form
a powerful distraction,
from terrorism to Afghanistan
to (especially) the
Middle East.
There were the usual,
numbingly dreadful
statistics to be trotted
out: 60 million persons
infected and more than
20 million killed;
13 million orphaned
kids; 40 million people
living with the virus;
every hour of every
day, 600 more people
getting infected.
Haiti, with 5 percent
of its population infected,
now has the highest
HIV incidence outside
Africa and the rate
in the Carribean is
rising, Frechette reported.
"China is also
a source of enormous
concern, with a major
rise in HIV infections
in the past two years," she
said. Meanwhile, Eastern
Europe, especially
Russia, has the unwelcome
distinction of experiencing
the fastest growing
AIDS epidemic in the
world. There were 250,000
new infections there
last year and a million
people harbor HIV.
Here in the West,
including the US, there
has been no decline
in cases for three
years, the Canadian-born
UN executive said.
"Statistics point
to stalled prevention
efforts, with a dangeous
trend toward more relaxed
attitudes and risky
behavior, as compared
to the relatively successful
prevention campaigns
of the '80s and '90s," she
added, quoting a little
noticed statistic from
the US Centers for
Disease Control that
half of those infected
with HIV/AIDS in the
US did not know it
or were not receiving
treatment if they did
know.
"The
fact is that in our
globalized
world, there are no
safe countries. In
the ruthless world
of AIDS, there is no
'us and them'."
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