Today is World AIDS Day and although the disease remains currently incurable, the advancements in medical technology that prolong life and mitigate the effects of the sexually transmitted auto-immune virus  are impressive. We’ve come from a point where 25 years ago patients would be dying within months to a year of being diagnosed. Now, with early HIV detection, an HIV positive person in their 20s can enjoy a dramatically increased life expectancy, well into their senior years.  This is of course thanks to improvements and discoveries in treatments, but some are cautioning that the younger generation is placing too much faith in antivirals. 30% of new HIV cases in Quebec are from men and women  in their late teens and 20s. In some parts of the world the virus is increasing in both old and young alike. It is most commonly poorer regions of the world that see a continuing rise and spread of the disease but one of the world’s richest countries is also seeing a sharp increase.

Surprisingly, cases of  HIV and AIDS in Japan have been rapidly increasing and lack of education as well as cultural “hang-ups” are cited as the leading causes. Many other parts of Asia and Africa are heavily impacted by the socioeconomic damage of the persistent disease; Japan saw its first case in the early 1990s. Some areas of Asia are in danger of similar rapid increases like Japan’s. New research in  Pakistan shows that HIV/AIDS has been increasing there with a risk of the disease flaring up dramatically, led largely by IV drug use and the sex trade. Even in North America, aboriginal Canadians have a higher infection rate of HIV/AIDS than the national average and are a higher risk group than other segments of the Canadian population while the Canadian city of Vancouver, consistently cited as one of the most livable cities in the world and an affluent global destination has a persistent and serious hard drugs and sex trade HIV/AIDS challenge that is endemic to the city’s poorest neighborhood- the downtown eastside.  Vancouver’s gay community is also acutely aware of the dangers of this social and sexual disease. 50% of all HIV cases in the Province of BC in 2008 were from gay men, proving that the disease is still looming over the homosexual community in a profoundly serious way.

Though a global effort has been under way to combat the disease it remains entrenched in certain sectors of the population and in certain geographies,  but there are some who are optimistic that a combination of education and prevention, proposed universal voluntary HIV testing and treatment programs as well as a long term strategy and even an eagerly anticipated AIDS vaccine can potentially eradicate the disease in our lifetime. Technologies and practices such as condoms, abstinence, education pushes, topical microbicides (spray on gels and foams that prevent the spread of the virus during sex) and testing kits like the ones recently donated to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s 2009 Testing Millions Global Campaign by Chembio Diagnostics (an American Firm that manufactures, licenses and markets proprietary rapid diagnostic tests) are all examples of tools and practices that have been developed over time to combat HIV/AIDS. The disease presents a fascinating insight into how technology and science intersect with culture and economics around a microbe that can have such devastating personal and social impacts. World AIDS day is a reminder of just how complex the challenges are as HIV and AIDS continue to affect lives, cities and countries. Though the news may be good overall according to the UN, it isn’t good everywhere.

Tags: aboriginal Canadians, AIDS vaccine, antivirals, Chembio Diagnostics, education and prevention, eradicate the disease in our lifetime, gay men, hard drugs and sex trade, HIV and AIDS in Japan, HIV cases in Quebec, HIV detection, life expectancy, long term strategy, Pakistan, poorer regions, rapid diagnostic tests, topical microbicides, universal voluntary HIV testing and treatment programs, vancouver

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