An article in the Huffington Post discussing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFA) brought up a question that took me some time to think about, and I'm not sure if I even have an answer yet...
Should global health funds be focused aggressively on AIDS as it is now, or should the funds be more evenly split with concerns like clean water and general health infrastructure?
I think the answer depends on the location being funded. The countries with the highest population of AIDS also have the largest issues with general health care and services, as well as extremely prevalent issues with other deadly diseases such as malaria. In these countries, the money should be focused on overall health care, and making services available to any person with any deathly disease, not just AIDS.
The money that is reserved for AIDS should be evenly spent on immediate treatment for those who are infected, as well as education about the disease. Ignorance and prejudice are fuelling the spread of a preventable disease. Every person with the disease who was not given it at birth, had the ability to prevent themselves from getting it. Guaranteed if you were to ask every person who has AIDS if they would have rather have worn protection or not have had sex in the first place as opposed to contracting the disease, all of them would choose the first option.
Ever since my time spent in East Africa, it has been a common theme for me to believe that education is the answer to fixing many of the world's problems, AIDS relief and prevention being one of them.
