Copyright 2000 The Kansas City Star Co.
THE KANSAS
CITY STAR
November 29, 2000, Wednesday METROPOLITAN
EDITION
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. B7 ;LEWIS W. DIUGUID
LENGTH: 798 words
HEADLINE:
Policing a pandemic: AIDS
BYLINE: LEWIS W. DIUGUID
BODY:
WASHINGTON - Ron Dellums' speech on creating
a Marshall Plan to
fight HIV/AIDS made me think of my daughter, Leslie.
Dellums, a former California congressman, now is chairman of the
Constituency for Africa and chairman of the Presidential Advisory
Council on HIV/AIDS. He told the recent Trotter Group conference of
black columnists that his 65th birthday was Nov. 24. I shared with
him
that Leslie turned 14 the very next day.
That may have seemed like idle
chitchat, but it fit a theme in
his talk: "This is a tiny planet. We are all
interrelated,
interdependent and mutually vulnerable.
"It is indeed
the human family that ultimately is threatened by
the virus."
HIV/AIDS is more of a threat to Leslie, my 17-year-old daughter,
Adrianne, and all children today than the Vietnam and Cold wars were
to
my baby-boom generation. It's a bigger killer than World War II
and World
War I were for our parents' and our parents' parents'
generations. About 10
million troops died in World War I, 17 million
soldiers died in World War II
and 58,000 U.S. servicemen in Vietnam.
HIV/AIDS has killed more than 19
million people worldwide - 14
million in African countries. About 3 million
will die of AIDS this
year. About 36 million people are infected with the
AIDS virus; 25
million of them in Africa. About 8 million children in Africa
have
been orphaned, and life expectancy has dropped into the 30s.
"But this is not an African problem," he said. "This is a
global
pandemic."
Africa is just ground zero in the attack on humankind. He
said
3.5 million people in India are reported to have HIV/AIDS.
In
the United States, more than 413,000 people with the disease
have died since
1985. Right now about 900,000 live with HIV/AIDS.
As many as 1.4 million
people in Latin America have HIV/AIDS.
Russia's 130,000 cases are expected
to jump to 300,000 by the end of
this year, becoming the world's fastest
HIV/AIDS growth rate.
"We're at war with a virus," Dellums said. "It
hides. It
waits. It adapts. It changes, and it inflicts incredible suffering
at
a level previously unknown to humankind."
Dellums added a
chilling thought: "We're still in the first
stages of a global pandemic.
We've not even peaked yet.
"It is important to get people to understand
that their mutual
self-interest is involved. Draw the line in Africa, my
friends, or
tomorrow it will be in your own back yards."
President
Clinton and Congress are getting the message. The
administration declared
HIV/AIDS a national-security issue, and in
August Clinton signed a bill that
includes $300 million for
education, voluntary testing and
counseling, prevention of
mother-to-child transmission and care for HIV/AIDS
victims in Africa.
It also provides $50 million for
Global Alliance for Vaccines and
Immunization, $10 million for the International
AIDS Vaccine
Initiative and $60 million to
fight tuberculosis.
But a $3 billion Marshall Plan is
needed, said Dellums and
African ambassadors.
"It plans to wipe out
the gains we have made at great cost,"
Republic of Malawi Ambassador Tony
Kandiero said. "We are reduced to
nations that are burying our dead 10 times
over. We are virtually
countries in mourning."
Dellums wants Western
powers to forgive African nations' debts so
they can help lead the Marshall
Plan battle against AIDS. He
advocates global participation in the effort.
This would force the
development of better roads, hospitals, education,
sanitation and
communication so HIV/AIDS treatment can get to the people in
need.
Corporations have a lot at stake. Direct U.S. investment in
African nations has grown 177.6 percent from $4.86 billion
in 1990 to
$13.49 billion by 1998.
Many companies
also have begun to invest in fighting HIV/AIDS.
They see it's in their
mutual best interest. Companies now are
training three workers for every job
fearing two will die of AIDS,
the ambassadors said.
Corporations
know that South Africa is the world's largest
producer of gold, and Nigeria
and Libya are among the world's leading
oil-producing nations. Africa
produces nearly three-quarters of the
globe's cobalt, more than two-fifths
of its vanadium and a third of
its manganese and platinum.
The
continent is a key source of copper, diamonds, phosphates,
uranium,
antimony, iron ore, natural gas and tin. The work of
Africans benefits
everyone.
It's in our mutual self-interest that they defeat HIV/AIDS.
It's
for our children's future, too.
- Lewis W. Diuguid is a member
of the Editorial Board. His column
appears on Wednesdays and Fridays. To
reach him, call (816) 889-7827
and enter 1134 or send e-mail to
Ldiuguid@kcstar.com
LOAD-DATE: November 29, 2000
