This week David Drew warns that Aids is still a problem in this country A WEEK ago we commemorated World Aids Day. Though we may think that Aids is a problem of yesteryear, in the West at least, in fact figures of people recently diagnosed demonstrate that this is far from the case with last year’s figures showing the highest ever number of new infections diagnosed as HIV positive in the UK. Thankfully we now have means to successfully treat individuals here so that diagnosis is now no longer a life threatening sentence, and with care can lead to a relatively long life even when someone has developed full-blown Aids.

It shames me that there is still so much ignorance about this disease. Of course we have had to come to terms with what is a very worrying condition.

Too often in the past we have had to deal with accusations that it was the individual’s own fault and that NHS expenditure would be better allocated elsewhere. Whilst the rise in sexually transmitted diseases in this country and elsewhere is deeply worrying we do need to separate out cause and effect with regard to Aids and try to do what we can to find a cure. In the developing world in particular many children are not only orphaned by this dreadful disease but then go on to develop the symptoms themselves. They are the truly innocent victims of this plague.

Of course whilst controversies on treatment have declined here this is not true elsewhere. In South Africa at the moment there is a fierce debate going on over whether action should be taken against former President Mbeki.

To remind you Mbeki spent most of his time as president living in denial of the impact that Aids was having on his country and frequently went as far as to suggest alternative remedies to Aids and to accuse HIV/Aids scientists as having racial undertones in their approach to the disease. The arguments have broken out again recently with the accusation that Thabo Mbeki was responsible for more than 300,000 deaths as he blocked the early take up of antiretroviral drugs. This is deeply shocking as I cannot understand how any statesman could allow his personal prejudices to stop his people from receiving appropriate treatment.

Though Mbeki may now be seen as a marginalised politician and his views as being so extreme as to be ridiculous I have heard his views mouthed by some in this country. Such ignorance must be combated and rebutted at every occasion.

It is vital that we now push on for a cure as such attitudes as this are at best unhelpful in this pursuit.

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