Obama praises Bush efforts against AIDS

Spencer Collins · #1 (**permalink**) 12-01-2008, 04:34 PM

Quote:

CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama praised the Bush administration's effort to combat AIDS and pledged Monday to continue to fight the deadly disease when he takes office in January.

Obama discussed AIDS in videotaped remarks to the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health held in Washington. The remarks were released Monday while Obama was in Chicago to announce members of his national security team.

In the video, Obama noted advancements since the first World AIDS Day 20 years ago. Among the accomplishments was Bush's initiative of giving lifesaving antiretroviral treatment to people in sub-Saharan Africa.

"I salute President Bush for his leadership in crafting a plan for AIDS relief in Africa and backing it up with funding dedicated to saving lives and preventing the spread of the disease," Obama said. "And my administration will continue this critical work to address the crisis around the world."

He also urged people to recommit themselves to addressing AIDS in the United States with a strategy involving prevention, treatment and a focus on at-risk communities. Obama said everyone must help address the disease because "in the end this epidemic can't be stopped by government alone, and money alone is not the answer either."

FOXNews.com - Obama praises Bush efforts against AIDS - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

Well done President Bush..

faithful_servant · #2 (**permalink**) 12-02-2008, 03:26 PM

Africa's AIDS epidemic is primarily a cultural problem, not a medical one. Uganda started using abstinence first teaching several years ago and ended up with one of the lowest AIDS rates in Africa, until they backed away from it (pressure from people who thought that it was wrong to teach people that they can actually control themselves caused them to change their approach). Africa's AIDS problem is actually not the biggest medical challenge Africa faces - it's water-borne disease that's the biggest killer. AIDS gets all the attention because of it's political cachet and the fact that it's the "new kid on the block" (water-borne disease has been around for millenia). The thing is that water-borne disease is actually fairly simple to address. Africa's got water almost everywhere, N. Africa sits on a massive aquifer of "fossil water" that's going completely untapped at this point in time. Drilling wells to provide villages with clean water is an incredibly cheap and sustainable method of fixing this huge problem, yet instead we are focusing on AIDS. There's no question that AIDS needs to be addressed, but you've got to deal with the biggest problem first and that's water-borne disease.

cnredd · #3 (**permalink**) 12-02-2008, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faithful_servant

Africa's AIDS epidemic is primarily a cultural problem, not a medical one. Uganda started using abstinence first teaching several years ago and ended up with one of the lowest AIDS rates in Africa, until they backed away from it (pressure from people who thought that it was wrong to teach people that they can actually control themselves caused them to change their approach). Africa's AIDS problem is actually not the biggest medical challenge Africa faces - it's water-borne disease that's the biggest killer. AIDS gets all the attention because of it's political cachet and the fact that it's the "new kid on the block" (water-borne disease has been around for millenia). The thing is that water-borne disease is actually fairly simple to address. Africa's got water almost everywhere, N. Africa sits on a massive aquifer of "fossil water" that's going completely untapped at this point in time. Drilling wells to provide villages with clean water is an incredibly cheap and sustainable method of fixing this huge problem, yet instead we are focusing on AIDS. There's no question that AIDS needs to be addressed, but you've got to deal with the biggest problem first and that's water-borne disease.

I've been saying it for YEARS....

If anyone wants to help Africa, they should be creating desalinization plants along the coasts and piping the clean water into the central continent...

That would be the FIRST thing I'd do...by a mile...

faithful_servant · #4 (**permalink**) 12-02-2008, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnredd

I've been saying it for YEARS....

If anyone wants to help Africa, they should be creating desalinization plants along the coasts and piping the clean water into the central continent...

That would be the FIRST thing I'd do...by a mile...

Nothing so fancy, just deep wells. N. Africa sits on top of a monsterous aquifer of "fossil water" that just needs to be tapped into. Drill wells, lots and lots of wells. Then lay pipes to distribute the water. Then raise crops with the water. Then sell the crops. Then pay for more wells to be drilled. Lather, rinse, repeat.... At every step, you also address another huge issue in Africa - unemployment. Between well-drillers, pipeline builders, farmers, etc., you just created a huge number of paying jobs and a self reinforcing system to develop Africa's infrastructure.

saltwn · #5 (**permalink**) 12-06-2008, 09:17 PM

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Luc Montagnier, co-winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine, Saturday stood by his view that a "therapeutic vaccine" for the AIDS pandemic could be created within four to five years.

"It is difficult to say, but it is perhaps a case of four to five years," he told AFP, following a press conference in Stockholm ahead of receiving the prestigious prize next week.Nobel medicine laureate sees progress on AIDS vaccine - Yahoo! News

Quote:

In October Montagnier, 76, said an AIDS treatment could be possible in the future with a "therapeutic" rather than preventive vaccine for which results might be published in three or four years if financial backing is forthcoming.

Montagnier and fellow French researcher Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, who shared the Nobel prize, discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS by destroying immune cells, one of the scourges of modern times.

Quote:

On Saturday Montagnier insisted the creation of a "therapeutic vaccine" within four to five years was realistic and that there are various ways to reduce the HIV virus until a cure is found.

He noted that work on a vaccine has been going on for 10 years and that it was easier to research a therapeutic rather than a preventative vaccine.

"Before we get a vaccine there are many ways to reduce the contaminations by improving ways of life standards in developing and poor countries, in giving them more advice," he said.

While also addressing journalists in Stockholm, Barre-Sinoussi said it is impossible to say when a preventative AIDS vaccine would be made available and that researchers must keep working on it.

Montagnier and Barre-Sinoussi shared one half of the 2008 award, while the other half went to Harald zur Hausen of Germany, who discovered the virus that causes cervical cancer.

Zur Hausen also attended Saturday's press conference in which he echoed Barre-Sinoussi's response that winning the Nobel prize had completely changed his life.

All three researchers will give their acceptance speech on Sunday and receive their award, with a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor (930,000 euros), on Wednesday.

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) has claimed more than 25 million lives since it first came to prominence in 1981. Today, around 33 million people are living with AIDS or harbouring HIV, 67 percent of them south of the Sahara.

Great occurrences sometimes happen with a series of little steps.

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