Why are governments spending so much money on AIDS?

I must say I am completely puzzled as to why AIDS has such a high proeminence among diseases. Why is it that governments spend so much money on AIDS when there are so many other diseases that kill a lot more people?

Why does the government of USA spend far more on AIDS than cancer or heart disease, which each kill more than 10 times more people annually in the U.S.?

After all isn't AIDS a disease that affects primarily gay men? Why is this particular disease given so much attention when compared to other diseases?

 

AIDS effects everyone not just gay men, there are ways that you can reduce the risk of AIDS and that's where a lot of the money goes towards education and prevention. Also the reason that AIDS kills less people then other diseases is because of the amount of money invested by our government and others in finding drugs prevent/cure the disease.

 

I think that AIDS is a disease that affects gay men especially and there is no denying it. I am just wondering why THIS disease gets unprecedented attention and unprecedented funding over any other disease that affects the entire population the same (not just gay men).

I reckon the government(s) should promote abstinence. Even growing up in a communist country I remember being a kid and looking at a poster with the following message: "A faithful couple is sheltered from AIDS".

Federal funding for HIV/AIDS has increased dramatically every year since 1993, but the number of new infections has not declined. One must ask, why do we spend more money every year on prevention programs that have failed to prevent new infections?

And WHY I must ask, WHY, WHY WHY does the government spend far more on AIDS than cancer or heart disease, which each kill more than 10 times more people annually in the U.S.?

 

Bwhaahaaha. I can't even express what i think of you here, since i'll probably get banned.
How did you come to the conclusion that AIDS is a disease that affects primarily gay men ? lol.

 

Thanks for keeping the flattering remarks to yourself. You are really improving which is a positive sign. (no pun intended)

The term men who have sex with men (MSM) refers to all men who have sex with other men, regardless of how they identify themselves (gay, bisexual, or heterosexual). In the United States, HIV and AIDS have had a tremendous impact on MSM.

Consider these facts:

AIDS has been diagnosed for more than half a million MSM. Over 300,000 MSM with AIDS have died since the beginning of the epidemic.

MSM made up more than two thirds (68%) of all men living with HIV in 2005, even though only about 5% to 7% of men in the United States reported having sex with other men.

In a 2005 study of 5 large US cities, 46% of African American MSM were HIV-postitive.

Oh yes, these figures are taken from the department of Human Health and services (Centers for disease controls and prevention). Here's the link: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/index.htm (BTW, this is a government organisation).

Here's another quote: "For complex reasons, HIV/AIDS continues to take a high toll on the MSM population. For example, the number of new HIV/AIDS cases among MSM in 2005 was 11% more than the number of cases in 2001."

 

not really, in the western world 27% of hiv infected people are women and I think it's safe to say not all hiv infected males ad sex with other men.

.
http://data.unaids.org/pub/EpiReport/2006/20061121_EPI_FS_NAWCE_en.pdf

In africa the situation is different:

http://data.unaids.org/pub/EpiReport/2006/20061121_EPI_FS_SSA_en.pdf

because an aids global epidemic could pretty much mean the end of humanity. there already are african countries with infection rates of 30%

it has never worked and it never will...you can't teach a badger not to dig and you can't teach horny people not to fuck. The best you can do is educate them about the risks of unprotected sex and teach them about how they should protect themselfs

 

So what does that mean for the remaining 73%. I am not disputing there aren't any straight men who have AIDS. What I am saying is that compared to gay men the differences are astronomical.

 

Bottom line: If you are going to put a flag at either the north pole OR the south pole, make sure you put a helmet on your little soldier. Respect your flag. Don't put it some place you wouldn't want to go yourself.

 

Cancer you might not have a choice on, but that's the point it's not spread like HIV. If you didn't try to suppress HIV it could easily ravage the nation and world. Any disease that is transmitted gets priority, especially one as nasty as HIV.

Even if it only effected gay men, since when do gay men not pay taxes? Since when are gay men not citizens of this great land?

Sex is also not the only way HIV is transmitted

---edit
Just because new infections has not declined does not = it not working at all. Logically it could very well be it's kept the numbers in check instead of them INCREASING!

 

it still doesn't make it a "gay disease". As I've showed you before in many countries women have a bigger infection rate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS

not really. As you can read in the wiki link you can see it can be transmited in many ways (for some reason I'm under the impression you had no ideea about this). Abstinence isn't 100% safe either. you could marry a person who doesn't know that's infected with hiv. Or your spouse could get the virus through one of the non sexual ways of transmitting it

I agree with you 100% here. I don't touch drugs either

yes

yes

I see no similarity between sex and skydiving. The vast majority of people don't skydive and most of the people don't feel a physical need to skydive. This is a very stupid comparison

I'm an atheist so I couldn't care less about your god

as I've said before being in a loyal couple doesn't make you 100% safe from aids

 

I didn't want to post because I see Protein's obsession has flared up again. And like you, I have a difficult time holding my tongue in a world where men, women and children are dying due to this tragic, human disease.

But we've already gone through this with the member. Data showing demographics throughout the world doesn't matter - only the obsession does.

 

lol!!!! well said.

 

Little soldier. Speak for yourself, vet.

 

Anyone with half of a brain knows that AIDS can't be cured with allopathic medicine. What cures have they came up with lately??

"hmm well none that i can name but i'll just keep donating because it's a worthy cause"

-a tool.

Nature already has cures for many things but WE NEED MORE MONEY TO TRY TO COME UP WITH AN ARTIFICIAL ONE SO KEEP DONATING!!

 

While they haven't found medicine that cures it, they developed medicine that makes the diseases manageable like diabetes.

 

Manageable diseases are much more profitable than cures.

 

well said. very few people catch on to that. and the ones that don't, most likely haven't had a chronic disease.

it's all good and fun when you're healthy, you can throw all the money you want at problems. but when you're in the trenches you'll see it all go over your head.

 

This is not meant as an attack, but that gay statement is a bit ignorant. My uncle was a heroin addict and got AIDS from a dirty needle. He died in 1995.

People still get AIDS from blood transfusions, IV Drug use, and normal heterosexual sex with people who are infected.

I would imagine a great deal of money is spent because unlike a lot of diseases, AIDS can be prevented...

The largest problems appear to exist in underdeveloped and poor countries, particularly in Africa. It's not a gay disease..

 

Good post..

 

I second that. Thank you, Jeremy.