The benefits of science ... but not for all

Almost 30 years on, and science has finally given us the means to reverse the pandemic! 
Speaker after speaker at the 18th International AIDS Conference being held in Vienna has provided research findings and data proving how it can be done.

Antiretroviral Therapy can eliminate mother to child transmission completely, it can reduce mortality among those living with HIV significantly and new research findings have proven that treatment can lower the transmission rate between adults by up to 92%.  Treating everyone in need of treatment could result in a one third reduction in global infections.

All this for  just 40 US cents a day per client....so much hope.....the way ahead seems clear ....
Or does it?  It’s also clear that the wonderful solutions science has provided will not be enjoyed equally in the north and in the south....

While Dr Steven Deeks of San Fransico puts his clients on treatment as soon as they present, regardless of their CD4 count, Dr Peter Mugyengi explained that most of his patients in Uganda are very sick by the time they access drugs and for many the drugs come too late. While Professor Mandelbrot explained the reproductive options available for couples to safely conceive and deliver a baby, a doctor from South Africa pointed out that the health system in her country can only help a fraction of the 300,000 HIV positive pregnant women presenting each year.

While people living with HIV in the North can enjoy the benefits of less toxic combination medicines with lower side effects, people living with HIV in the South still rely on the very toxic drug D4T as part of their regime.

And so the benefits of science depend on economics and just at the moment when science presents a breakthrough, declining funding threatens to reverse the gains. AIDS was never just about science but more about economics and social justice.