AIDS aid in Zambia

Reading "Poverty fuels medical crisis" immediately took me back to a research paper I wrote on the distribution of antiretroviral drugs in Zambia. I've looked everywhere for my paper but,of course, I can't find it. I don't remember all of the specific stats, but there is a good overview of the AIDS epidemic in Zambia at this website if you want to check it out: http://www.avert.org/aids-zambia.htm. Basically, one in every six adults is living with HIV/AIDS and AIDS orphans are a growing concern. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Africa and receives millions and millions of dollars worth of HIV/AIDS aid from the global community, including the U.S.

Ungar's mention of the rural poor in Kentucky made me think of the rural poor in Zambia for two reasons. One, they share the common problem of transportation to health care facilities. And secondly, there is currently nowhere near the level of medical infrastructure in Zambia that there is in the U.S. I was surprised to find out that the lack of infrastructure is now a bigger obstacle for Zambia than the cost of health care facilities and medications, thanks to all that aid. Free ARV drugs have been available to all Zambians living with HIV/AIDS for a few years now. It's wonderful that the U.S. sends so much aid around the world, albeit with less cultural sensitivity than I would prefer. We love to pay attention to people in need in other countries, but what about our own? There is no excuse for people within the U.S. to not have access to basic health care when we have, and have had, a successful medical infrastructure in place. I have to agree with Sara Rosenthal - "it's simply not right".

And about that cultural sensitivity... It's not just crucial for foreign healthcare workers actually living in Africa to reach some kind of compromise with the African community for aid to really help, but also for the U.S. government to take into consideration where that millions of dollars worth of aid is going. Without the necessary communication, understanding, and ultimately an infrastructure that works for Zambians, a lot of that money goes right down the tube. There may be better clinics and more medications available, but all too often people can't get to the clinics and doctors can't get through to their patients. Just because it's available doesn't mean it's accessible. And when 2/3 of Zambians live on less than a dollar a day and many of them are malnourished, those meds are going to do more harm than good.

President Mbeki of South Africa has received a great deal of criticism for insisting that poverty causes HIV/AIDS. His controversial position has hindered the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS in South Africa, but it is debatable whether poverty as an underlying factor in the HIV/AIDS epidemic should be brought to the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS. Although poverty doesn't literally cause illness and disease, they are undeniably closely related.