National Affairs
A little perspective, please
Claire Hoy

Now that the army of AIDS activists and assorted celebrities have left Toronto following the worldwide

AIDS conference where they distinguished themselves by displaying a relentless sense of entitlement which could put the federal Liberal Party to shame it is time to ponder a few facts.

True, on a world scale, AIDS is a terrible scourge on humanity, particularly in Africa, although even there the actual deaths have consistently fallen well below the dire predictions of the activists.

What is not true is this constant theme from the conference including, but hardly limited to, the movement's idol Stephen Lewis, and former U.S. president Bill Clinton that essentially the AIDS crisis is a direct result of a)a lack of concern from western governments; and b)a conspiracy by the drug companies. Even though other diseases kill more people and we'll get to the Canadian situation in a moment no other disease enjoys the star power and media muscle that AIDS commands.

Witness the behavior of the delegates who, unhappy with the absence of Prime Minister Stephen Harper who, like Jean Chretien before him, didn't attend rudely booed Health Minister Tony Clement when he spoke about the significant efforts of the Canadian government in dealing with AIDS.

Rather than show normal courtesy, or an interest in what is actually happening, the delegates instead chose to play cheap politics by displaying outrage that the prime minister (who no doubt would have been booed had he showed up, given the political bent of the activists) decided to pass on this one.

It has been 20 years since Life Magazine blared the spurious headline, in huge red letters: "Now Nobody Is Safe From AIDS."

This is complete nonsense, but is exactly what activists want you to believe. Why? Because it removes what should really be the focus of fighting AIDS, particularly in North America, i.e. the notion that AIDS is prevalent among people who indulge in selective personal behavior, namely unprotected homosexual male sexual activity, and intravenous drug use, both of which still account for the overwhelming number of AIDS cases in this country. Yes, it is growing among women too, but even here most are affected by men who are carrying the virus from their other activities.

In North America, at least, the vast majority of us are perfectly safe from AIDS, far safer than say, we are from cancer.

In 2005, for example, 272 cases of AIDS were diagnosed in Canada. Yes, many more were diagnosed with HIV, which often, although not always, leads to AIDS. But even here, Canada's Public Health Agency reports 60,000 Canadians have been diagnosed with HIV in Canada since 1982.

The Canadian Cancer Society reports that more than 140,000 Canadians were diagnosed with cancer in 2005 alone. Put another way, the number of cancer victims in one year was four times the number of HIV victims over 23 years.

Again, this is not meant to diminish the seriousness of AIDS or HIV, only to put the wild claims of the activists into perspective and to underscore the point that, while they appear to believe their disease deserves far more attention than any other, it doesn't.

Clinton claimed at the conference that "it's difficult to imagine how the world can grow unless we tackle AIDS."

Two things about that: first, world population growth actually is fastest in the areas hit hardest by AIDS; second, the notion that nothing is being done about AIDS is plain wrong. According to UNAIDS, for example, 1.3 million people in low-and-middle income countries received antiretroviral therapy in 2004. Granted, that's still not enough, but it's up from a fifth of that in just a few years.

Worldwide AIDS spending averaged $1.7 billion between 2002-04, but ballooned to $8.3 billion for 2005 and is expected to top $10 billion by next year. So let's not continue to buy into the propaganda that nothing is being done because a)politicians don't care and b)-the drug companies are conspiring against it.

For those, such as former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis, who blames the West for AIDS (and just about every other ill), he likely knows that other diseases, which are curable, such as Malaria and TB, are at least equally as deadly as AIDS in Africa and parts of Asia.

Consider this: antiretroviral therapy for AIDS costs about $300 a year per person in the Third World and doesn't cure anybody but TB can be cured for $65 per person. But it doesn't have the same cache.

Malaria could also be prevented in Africa and Asia for pennies per person, simply by spraying DDT. But environmental activists the sort of people who attend AIDS conferences and scream about corporate conspiracies have blocked the use of DDT in countries where it is needed most.

Interesting, eh?