[Vision2020] 03-30-05 NY Times: When Marriage Kills

[Melynda Huskey]

"Fiat" ponders some important questions about HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan 
Africa.  I believe s/he is overly optimistic about the possibility of an 
"effective, collective recovery," though.

24.5 million people in Africa have HIV--that's 71% of all HIV cases in the 
world. Seven African countries--Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, 
Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe--have adult prevalence rates above 20%; in 
Zimbabwe, it is 32%--nearly a third of all adults are HIV-positive.  African 
women are considerably more likely—at least 1.2 times—to be infected with 
HIV than men. Among young people aged 15-24, this ratio is highest: young 
women are 2.5 times more likely to be infected than young men. 13 million 
children across Africa have been orphaned by HIV, that number is expected to 
rise to 15 million in the next three years.  It is the leading cause of 
death among all Africans.

The U.S. Senate has proposed $800 million in aid to Africa for HIV this 
year.  In comparison, we're spending $1.8 billion dollars on aid (not 
HIV-related, but all aid) to Egypt, $1.7 billion in Afghanistan, $570 
million in Columbia, and $560 million in Jordan.  The majority of our funds 
will be going to Ethiopia (infection rate:  4.4%), Uganda (infection rate: 
9%), and Kenya (infection rate: 22%).  We will not be spending money in the 
seven nations with the highest infection rates.  And a full 33% of money 
earmarked for prevention must be spent on abstinence campaigns.

The most effective long-term strategy for HIV-reduction, in my opinion, is 
to fund universal free education for children, particularly girls, 
throughout the developing world.  Economic empowerment, sexual 
self-determination, and access to human rights are directly related to 
education for women.

I am haunted by the knowledge that in Malawi, in Zambia, in Lesotho, at this 
moment, a woman is weighing the risk of her own HIV infection and death 
against her children's hunger, and choosing to sacrifice herself for $4 to 
feed them.

Melynda Huskey
(Co-chair of the Palouse HIV Consortium)