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TechnoratiUS Blacks, if a Nation, Would Rank High on AIDS
If black America were a country, it would rank 16th in the world in the number of people living with the AIDS virus, the Black AIDS Institute, an advocacy group, reported Tuesday.The report, financed in part by the Ford Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation, provides a startling new perspective on an epidemic that was first recognized in 1981.
Nearly 600,000 African-Americans are living with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, and up to 30,000 are becoming infected each year. When adjusted for age, their death rate is two and a half times that of infected whites, the report said. Partly as a result, the hypothetical nation of black America would rank below 104 other countries in life expectancy.
Those and other disparities are "staggering," said Dr. Kevin A. Fenton, who directs H.I.V. prevention efforts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency responsible for tracking the epidemic in the United States.
"It is a crisis that needs a new look at prevention," Dr. Fenton said.
In a separate report on Tuesday, the United Nations painted a somewhat more optimistic picture of the worldwide AIDS epidemic, noting that fewer people are dying of the disease since its peak in the late 1990s and that more people are receiving antiretroviral drugs.
Nevertheless, the report found that progress remained uneven and that the future of the epidemic was uncertain. The report was issued in advance of the 17th International AIDS Conference, which begins this weekend in Mexico City.
The gains are partly from the Bush administration's program to deliver drugs and preventive measures to people in countries highly affected by H.I.V.
The Black AIDS Institute took note of that program in criticizing the administration's efforts at home. The group said that more black Americans were living with the AIDS virus than the infected populations in Botswana, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Namibia, Rwanda or Vietnam - 7 of the 15 countries that receive support from the administration's anti-AIDS program.
The international effort is guided by a strategic plan, clear benchmarks like the prevention of seven million H.I.V. infections by 2010 and annual progress reports to Congress, the group said. By contrast, it went on, "America itself has no strategic plan to combat its own epidemic."
In a telephone interview, Dr. Fenton said, "We recognize this is a crisis, and clearly more can be done."
The institute, based in Los Angeles, describes itself as the only national H.I.V./AIDS study group focused exclusively on black people. Phill Wilson, the group's chief executive and an author of the report, said his group supported the government's international anti-AIDS program. But Mr. Wilson's report also said that "American policy makers behave as if AIDS exists 'elsewhere' - as if the AIDS problem has been effectively solved" in this country.
The group also chided the government for not reporting H.I.V. statistics to the United Nations for inclusion in its biannual report.
Dr. Fenton said the C.D.C. had ensured that its data were forwarded to officials in the Department of Health and Human Services and was investigating why the data were not in the United Nations report.
Others speaking for the agency said the answer would have to come from the State Department, which did not respond to an inquiry.
Dr. Helene Gayle, president of CARE and a former director of H.I.V. prevention efforts at the disease control centers, told reporters on Tuesday that the United States needed to devote more resources to care for people with sexually transmitted diseases. Such infections can increase the risk of H.I.V. infection.
The federal government and communities needed to promote more testing among all people, particularly blacks, to detect H.I.V. infection in its earliest stages when treatment is more effective, Dr. Gayle said.
Also, she said, more needed to be done to promote needle exchange programs, which have proved effective in preventing H.I.V. infection among injecting drug users but that are illegal in many places.
The United Nations report said that in Rwanda and Zimbabwe, changes in sexual behavior had led to declines in the number of new H.I.V. infections.
Condom use is increasing among young people with multiple partners in many countries and more young people are postponing their initial sexual intercourse before age 15.
The percentage of pregnant women receiving antiretroviral drugs to prevent transmission of H.I.V. to their infants increased to 33 percent in 2007 from 14 percent in 2005. During the same period, the number of new infections among children fell to 370,000 from 410,000.
The United Nations report affirmed treatment gains in Namibia, which increased treatment to 88 percent of the estimated need in 2007, from 1 percent in 2003; and in Cambodia, where the percentage rose to 67 in 2007 from 14 percent in 2004. Other countries with high treatment rates are Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba and Laos.
In most areas of the world, more women than men are receiving antiretroviral therapy, the report said.
Despite inadequate monitoring systems in many countries, data suggest that most of the H.I.V. epidemics in the Caribbean appear to have stabilized. A few have declined in urban areas in the Dominican Republic and Haiti which have had the largest epidemics in the region.
Increased treatment was partly responsible for a decline in AIDS-related deaths to an estimated 2 million in 2007 from 2.2 million in 2005.
The AIDS epidemic has had less overall economic effect than earlier feared, the report said, but is having profound negative effects in industries and agriculture in high-prevalence countries.
The United Nations has set 2015 as the year by which it hopes to reverse the epidemic. But even if the world achieved that goal, the report said, "the epidemic would remain an overriding global challenge for decades."
To underscore the point, the United Nations said that for every two people who received treatment, five people became newly infected.
© 2008 The New York Times
12 Comments so far
Show AllThe African continent is the cradle of humanity (notice I didn't say of civilization). As such it seems to me the harbinger of much that our global presence will likely see in the years ahead: fragmented political entities that are fronts for capitalist powers, and were created by them to divide and conquer the people; epidemics that are allowed to rage; genocidal wars in which "the people who could afford to buy shoes for their children to wear to school were killed by people who couldn't afford their children's shoes" as a Rawandan described that particular massacre.
Ariel_Sharon, whoever you are -- we are one people. The media has spent your whole life trying to convince you of the threatening otherness of people with slightly different physiques or cultural practices or beliefs. But WE ARE ONE. United we stand, divided we fall. Global citizens, let's work together as brothers and sisters, and resist the siren call of scapegoating "Africans" (as if this were one monolithic group sharing the same habits, DNA, etc.) or any other group.
MiMiCcS, thank you for sharing that information. Food for thought, indeed.
Is he REALLY Ariel_Sharon? My God.
Jesus Christ, can't this fucking disease be cured already? Or is that cure being suppressed? Maybe Big Pharma's waiting for the most profitable time to unveil it?
Biological warfare gone awry? I wouldn't doubt it. Look at who's dying from AIDS. It 'aint the wealthy for the most part.
Yeah, let's blame it on behavior. I guess grandmothers and grandfathers deserve to die of cancer and heart attacks if we're to follow that line of thinking.
Consider the following chronology. I provide no theories here. Reach your own conclusions.
Chronology (much of this, not all, comes from R. Howard, whose link I lost)
WW II Japanese experimented upon the Fore Indian tribe and inoculated them with a minced-up version of the brains of diseased sheep containing the visna virus which causes "mad cow disease" or Creutzfeldt—Jakob disease......About five or six years later, after the Japanese had been driven out, the poor people of the Fore tribe developed what they called kuru, which was their word for "wasting", and they began to shake, lose their appetites and die. The autopsies revealed that their brains had literally turned to mush. They had contracted "mad cow disease" from the Japanese experiments. In 1995 U.S. Government admitted that it had offered Japanese war criminals and scientists who had performed human medical experiments salaries and immunity from prosecution in exchange for data on biological warfare research
1957, when the disease was beginning to blossom in full among the Fore people, Dr Carleton Gajdusek of the US National Institutes of Health headed to New Guinea to determine how the minced-up brains of the visna-infected sheep affected them. He spent a couple of years there, studying the Fore people, and wrote an extensive report. He won the Nobel Prize for "discovering" kuru disease in the Fore tribe from the Visna virus
1969 On June 9, 1969, Dr. Donald M. MacArthur, Deputy Director, Research and Engineering, Department of Defense, testified before Congress:
"Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible to make a new infective microorganism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most important of these is that it might be refractory [resistant] to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease."
[Hearings before the House Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, "Department of Defense Appropriations for 1970."]"
Tentative plans to initiate a program to develop such an agent were discussed by the National Research Council.
October 18, 1971 – President Nixon converted the Army's former biological warfare facilities at Fort Detrick, Md., to house research activities on the causes, treatment and prevention of cancer. [War on cancer]
1974- Henry Kissinger issues National Security Study Memorandum 200 titled "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests", a policy which the U.S. government adopted in 1975 by President Gerald Ford to control the world's population growth.
1975 The virus section of Fort Detrick's Center for Biological Warfare Research is renamed the Fredrick Cancer Research Facilities and placed under the supervision of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) . It is here that a special virus cancer program is initiated by the U.S. Navy, purportedly to develop cancer-causing viruses. It is also here that retrovirologists isolate a virus to which no immunity exists. It is later named HTLV (Human T-cell Leukemia Virus).
Mid-1970's The incidence of AIDS infections in Africa coincides exactly with the locations of the W.H.O. smallpox vaccination program in the mid-1970's (London Times, May 11, 1987).
1976 The "discovery" of Interleukin -2 which is produced as an immune reponse to HTLV's, was announced by Dr. Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute, which is on the grounds of Fort Detrick, Maryland, formerly a primary U.S. Army biological warfare research facility.
1978 The Hepatitis B vaccine study appears to have been the initial means of the spread (intentional or otherwise) of HIV infection in New York City. The test protocol specified promiscuous males only and inlcuded many homosexuals.
At least 25-50% of the first reported New York AIDS cases in 1981 had received the Hepatitis B test vaccine in 1978. By 1984, 64% of the vaccine recipients had AIDS, and the figures on the current infection rate for the participants of that study are held by the U.S. Department of Justice, and "unavailable."
1979 The discovery of the first human RNA virus (HTLV-I) was announced by NCI's Dr. Robert C. Gallo (announcements usually follows a peer review process, it is likely this virus and other HTLV viruses, natural or man made, intentionally or otherwise, were being studied, as well as their effects as attempts to isolate the viruses were underway )
1984, July 4. The first detailed charges regarding AIDS as a BW weapon were published in the Patriot newspaper in New Delhi, India. It is hard to say where the investigations of this story in the Indian press might have led, if they had not been sidetracked by two major domestic disasters shortly thereafter: the assassination of Indira Gandhi on Oct. 31 and the Bhopal Union Carbide plant "accident" that killed several thousand and injured over 200,000 on Dec. 3.
1986 According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (83:4007-4011), HIV and VISNA are highly similar and share all structural elements, except for a small segment which is nearly identical to HTLV-3 (the name of HIV at the time) . This leads to speculation that HTLV and VISNA may have been linked in the production of a deadly new retrovirus to which no natural immunity exists.
1987 Hearings in the British House of Commons from April 8 to May 13, 1987 regarding AIDS: "Every biological scientist who has dispassionately studied the virus and the epidemic knows that the origins of the virus could lie in the developments of modern biology....Some who know perfectly well what has happened are deliberately fudging scientific data to keep the heat off them and fellow members of their molecular biological 'club'."
1988 The Prince of Genocide: Philip ...
"In the event that I am reincarnated, I would like to return as a deadly virus, in order to contribute something to solve overpopulation."
That statement, reported by Deutsche Press Agentur in August 1988, presents in the most concise manner, the commitment of the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, to genocide against the world's population. In expressing this view—which he also put in writing in the foreword to the book People as Animals in 1986—Philip places himself in the tradition of that Fabian genocidalist Lord Bertrand Russell, who had defined alleged overpopulation as the greatest threat to the oligarchical way of life
2000. The Project For a New American Century releases the neocons Plan for rebuilding our nations defenses, and indicates a New Pearl Harbour event might be required before there would be support for it being implemented.
PNAC -
I) "Biological warfare (and other new arms) could become a politically useful instrument".
Later on in the report:
"New methods of attack – electronic, non-lethal, biological – will be more widely available.....combat likely will take place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes......advanced forms of biological warfare that can target specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool".
A striking feature of AIDS is that it's ethno-selective. The rate of infection is twice as high among Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans as among whites, with death coming two to three times as swiftly. And over 80% of the children with AIDS and 90% of infants born with it are among these minorities.
"Ethnic weapons" that would strike certain racial groups more heavily than others have been a long-standing U.S. Army BW objective. (Harris and Paxman, p 265)
If you look at the evidence H.I.V has little to do with AIDS. H.I.V and its controversial test became the standard by throwing money to the organizations that support the bad medical science. The problem with the H.I.V phenomenon is that it supplants further research that might find a cure.
Like most of our debilitating diseases that have originated with the domestication of animals, AIDS was first discovered and recognized as bovine aids in cattle, or beef, and otherwise known as cows, this is still a problem in the cattle/beef industry. Bovine AIDS is one of the reasons for the overuse of antibiotics in the cattle industry, and we already know what happens when you overuse antibiotics.
Do yourself a favor and do a little research yourself. There are a lot of people and organizations that will not look at alternative positions on the cause of AIDS, and spend a good deal of time denouncing anyone that goes against the current paradigm. If you look at their funding you begin to understand why they say what they say.
This article is supportive of the H.I.V (testing) as an indicator (or precursor) for AIDS. From what I understand if you want to look at the AIDS problem then you should only count the people that have AIDS and not the people that test positive for H.I.V. There is a startling problem with this article when you see that H.I.V and AIDS are used synonymously. There is also a problem when you see the evidence and it shows that there are a lot of people in the world that test positive (or have tested positive) for H.I.V and do not have AIDS. This article only perpetuates bad medical science associated with the "H.I.V causes A.I.D.S" phenomenon.
More research needs to be put to the task of looking at other possible causes for AIDS, but that won't happen until money becomes available and that won't happen because our government won't fund any research that does not support its own beliefs.
P.S. I also support the above comment - There is something gravely wrong with the underlying tone of this article in reference to "black America".
Arriel_Sharon -- if I made analogous comments about "Jews" that you have made about "blacks" you would be up in arms.
(The quotation marks in both cases are deliberate.)
Still, maybe it's better that way. Coming up against such blind bigotry causes anyone with any decency at all to think a little clearer; and as for the rest, they are beyond salvation anyway, and almost certainly would not be reading this.
Thank you Alaskamaid for your information.
As someone who has this genetic mutation (and whose wife and son also have it), I was unaware that the same mutation that fought off certain forms of malaria simultaneously increased my chances of contracting HIV.
It is information such as that you provided that makes me read CD daily....Thanks again.
Alaskamaid presents an intelligent analysis of the situation. Kind of makes a certain other poster look like a...never mind.
Ariel_Sharon July 30th, 2008 1:09 pm said:
"Blacks everywhere have a higher incidence of AIDS.
Could black behavior have something to do with this? In africa, many blacks believe that sex with a virgin cures aids. Others believe that the eyes of certain children can heal them, so there's a thriving trade for children's eyes and other bodyparts."
Is it because they're black or because they're poor?
The current issue of the news magazine The Week (August 1, 2008) addresses the question of why black people have a higher incidence of AIDS, and I quote :
"About 10,000 years ago, people in Africa evolved a way to fight off the malaria parasite. Thanks to a tiny change in their DNA, Africans stopped producing a red blood cell surface protein that allowed the malaria parasite entry into their blood cells. As a result, that species of malaria actually died off, but the DNA quirk remained. Today, people in Africa are facing another threat: the spread of HIV. The very same mutation that allowed ancient Africans to fight malaria is now increasing their vulnerability to the HIV virus. Scientists estimate that people with the mutation -- 90 percent of Africans, and 60 percent of African-Americans -- are up to 40 percent more vulnerable to infection by HIV."
" 'There has always been this myth that people in sub-Saharan Africa were more likely to get HIV because of differences in their sexual behavior, or that they are more promiscuous.', Dr. Ade Fakoya of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance tells BBCnews.com. 'This shows that it's not that simple.' "
We also are still very ignorant of how HIV affects the brain, but there are studies (suppressed, naturally) which show that promiscuity may be a RESULT of HIV infection as well as a CAUSE. After all, it is in the virus' interest to spread itself and promiscuity is the easiest and quickest way to do so. This phenomona is reflected in the terms used in the gay community of 'giver' and 'gifted' when referring to virus transmittal.
Retroviruses are very sneaky in ways we haven't really even considered yet !
Everything I said in my above post is true, why would you vilify me for speaking truth?
I'm not surprised there is no one that cares to discuss this with you. You are very sick.
Blacks everywhere have a higher incidence of AIDS.
Could black behavior have something to do with this? In africa, many blacks believe that sex with a virgin cures aids. Others believe that the eyes of certain children can heal them, so there's a thriving trade for children's eyes and other bodyparts.