The Ominous Cloud of AIDS - Part 3 of 3 "The Future"

In the first two parts of this series I discussed how the fear of HIV / AIDS has affected many decisions in my life. I also talked of how the disease itself has progressed from a certain death sentence to a “manageable illness” – at least in the United States. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to imagine a world without AIDS? Sadly, that prospect seems unlikely for several reasons. Normally I consider myself an optimist, but when it comes to this disease I’m not so optimistic about the future. While great discoveries have been made in the treatment of HIV, I believe political and social issues will keep us from having a real cure any time soon. Let’s explore each of those separately.

What does politics have to do with HIV? Plenty. In developed countries like the United States, many treatments are becoming available every day but these treatments are always quite expensive. Thankfully most people are covered by some sort of health insurance so their own costs are minimized. But this only makes the scandal easier to perpetuate. The pharmaceutical companies learned many years ago that there is no money in a cure. They know they can make an incredible fortune by just treating people with expensive drugs to keep them alive and somewhat “normal”. A cure would certainly cut into those profits. We live in what I call a “subscription society” these days in everything from electronic services to health care. People are actually renting their health. It’s sad.

Perhaps that view is a bit of a conspiracy theory, but the social issues are very real. You will notice that my discussion so far has focused on life here in the United States were people are living near normal lives with HIV. Such is not the case in most of the rest of the world. Less developed countries are experiencing AIDS in the worst way. It is spreading out of control and millions of people are still dying. Lack of education on safe practices and denial have fueled this pandemic to a point where entire generations of people have died – their children left orphans, their economies in shambles. The pharmaceutical company’s visions of profits do not apply in places where people can’t even afford to eat and so they are left to simply die.

Denial is even worse. AIDS is still considered a “gay” disease and many people in developing countries, and even here in the USA, don’t get tested because of that negative stigma. Not knowing they have HIV allows them to pass it along to their partners at an alarming rate. But this pandemic isn’t a gay disease anymore. It affects straight women more than anyone else these days and mothers can pass HIV on to their fetus. Until people get past this hatred of gay people and the disease still connected to it, AIDS will continue to spread out of control.

With these political and social issues preventing a cure for AIDS I think I am justified in being a bit pessimistic on the future. But it has been said that time heals all and I pray that a cure for AIDS will be made available to everyone in the world very soon. Until then the ominous cloud hangs over those infected and affected and the decisions they make – including me.