The XVI International AIDS Conference beginning in Toronto this Sunday is by far the most important of the many AIDS conferences that regularly take place around the world. Let us hope it is a wake-up call that AIDS is more than the worst health crisis in history -- although it is that-- it is also a direct threat to the economic, social and political development and stability of many nations on every continent except North America.
Some speakers at the conference may talk of progress in specific areas of the war on AIDS -- development of an effective microbicide that women can use to protect themselves before sex, for example; or in the (far too) slow spread of confidential testing and counselling. But let no one think we are winning the war against HIV/AIDS. Every single year since the disease was first identified a quarter of a century ago, the number of people who are infected has grown, as has the death toll. The most that can be said is that we are losing at a slightly slower rate. That is not progress, at least not in my book.
You might think that, by now, everyone knows this; after all, AIDS and Africa were the main themes of Tony Blair's Group of Eight summit last year in Gleneagles, Scotland, and the subject of the only United Nations Security Council special sessions ever devoted to a health issue. But general awareness travels slowly, and with all the other urgent business facing the leading nations in the world today, many people still turn away, especially since AIDS is spread largely through sexual contact, a subject that makes many people and cultures uncomfortable.
But ignoring the problem will only make it worse. Governments that are in denial are most likely to pay a far higher price. South Africa, with the largest HIV prevalence in the world, would be in better shape if its leadership, especially its health minister, were more candid, more decisive and more aggressive. (Although the minister is a doctor, she regularly gives speeches suggesting that olive oil and garlic can prevent AIDS, and continues to give serious consideration to hare-brained theories that the HIV virus does not lead to AIDS; her stand has confused many Africans and weakened the prevention message greatly.)
(Anthony Jenkins/The Globe and Mail)
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Interactives
The massive effort required to stop this disease must be led by governments and international organizations such as WHO, UNAIDS and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. But, in many places, the governments are simply not able to do the job because of limited resources or -- as in the case of South Africa, Russia, Ukraine, most of the Caribbean and, until recently, India and China -- because of denial.
The only hope we have to start winning the war against AIDS is to have a clear and consistent message to overcome stigma and dismantle denial.
At the same time, we need to mobilize society for proven, effective interventions, including widespread HIV testing so people who test negative can remain negative, or be referred for treatment if they test positive; consensus on the use of condoms to prevent the sexual spread of HIV; development and distribution of anti-AIDS drugs that work well if appropriately prescribed and adhered to; and rolling-out treatment programs in the developing world is possible, feasible and often can be more effective than treatment in industrialized countries.
To help fill this gap, there is a huge potential role for the business sector. It was this simple theory that led to the creation of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC), a non-governmental organization that has grown from fewer than 20 companies five years ago to more than 220 today.
These companies, based around the world and employing more than 11 million people, have committed themselves to a broad range of activities.
These vary according to individual company core competencies but generally aim to educate and test workers and spread information about AIDS to their local communities or, in the case of great communications companies that are members -- such as Viacom, HBO, Reuters, BBC World Service, Yahoo, STAR, Sohu.com, Independent Newspapers, the French network TV5, and many others -- to a global audience. In some cases, GBC members offer treatment to infected workers and often to their families (this group includes Anglo American, De Beers, Eskom of South Africa, Coca-Cola, DaimlerChrysler, Heineken and Lafarge). A few of our members, led by American Express and Gap, have gone a step further and joined Product RED, a campaign committing a percentage of sales from certain products, such as the American Express RED Card, to the fight against AIDS. The GBC is especially proud of its eight Canadian members, which include Alcan, Barrick Gold, Indigo Books and Music, M*A*C Cosmetics, Power Corporation of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Sun Life Financial and TD Bank Financial Group. These companies make corporate Canada a leader in the effort to involve business in this fight.
Smaller businesses cannot usually do much on their own, and here more government effort is essential. And public calls, like those of Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, that private-sector corporations must devote a fixed 0.7% of pre-tax profits to the AIDS effort are simple-minded and work against the very noble goals they seek. But we should not argue over such empty rhetoric; there is work to be done. At the end of the day, when our careers -- in whatever field we have chosen -- are over and our children and grandchildren ask us what each of us did to fight the worst health crisis in history, what will our answers be? Will we have any answers at all?
Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is president of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS.
