While we temporarily overreact to swine flu, the developing world is being ravaged by many more-serious diseases. While we allow our unfounded fears to envelop us, donning our surgical masks and protecting our stores of Tamiflu with National Guard troops, millions die from preventable diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Last year, an estimated 2 million people died of AIDS while an additional 2.7 million were infected with HIV, and today at least 33.6 million people live with HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile, 11.7 million orphans who lost their parents to AIDS live in Africa alone, and three-fourths of those who die from AIDS live in the sub-Saharan Africa. While millions of dollars have gone toward preventing and treating the disease, bureaucratic problems plague these efforts, leaving millions without access to testing or treatment facilities.
Too often these statistics have a numbing effect on us, and we invariably fail to think of each fatality as the tragic end to another human being’s life. Stephanie Nolan’s book “28 Stories of AIDS in Africa” works to combat this paradox, with 28 individual stories of AIDS to represent the 28 million living with HIV/AIDS at the time of publication. One story is that of Prisca Mhlolo of Zimbabwe, who learned of her status only after her chronically ill 1-year-old daughter Agnes was diagnosed with HIV. Agnes lived just past her eighth birthday, and, shortly after her death, Mhlolo’s husband also died of AIDS. Prisca’s family accused her of causing the deaths of her daughter and husband, physically attacking her and taking away her remaining children. Soon afterwards her second-oldest son killed himself with pesticide because he believed he was also infected with HIV and did not want to endure the same excruciating death he watched his sister and father undergo. Although Prisca eventually became a positive symbol of hope after AIDS, her story is all too common — but not commonly spoken of.
Meanwhile, malaria and tuberculosis also threaten the lives of those in developing nations.
Each year there are anywhere from 350 million to 500 million cases of malaria in the world, with 1-3 million deaths, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2004, there were an estimated 14.6 million cases of chronic active tuberculosis with 1.6 million deaths, and in some African countries up to 80 percent of the population tests positive for the disease.
Whereas HIV and AIDS can be managed with antiretroviral treatment, both malaria and tuberculosis are curable. But the much-needed medications come at a price. Although only a few dollars each month can pay for treatments, those typically affected by these diseases are impoverished, and the money provided by non-governmental organizations is often misused and unreliable. To combat these needless deaths, we must communicate more effectively with those living in the affected communities, allowing them to take the reins in grassroots efforts that are free from government intervention.
One can get invovled with or give to reputable organizations on campus as well. The UT chapter of FACE AIDS, which has a near-permanent presence on the West Mall, has raised $25,000 through the sale of pins and T-shirts. The money goes to Partners in Health, a nonprofit that provides healthcare to AIDS sufferers in Africa.
Nonprofit organizations like UNICEF make giving money simple, and even though you may not have much to give, a small amount of money — what you might use to buy a cup of coffee or a pack of gum on any other day — can make an impact.
Most importantly, we must learn to care about the plights of those affected by these diseases. The effect of a lifetime of media exposure to images of AIDS is similar to the numbing nature of statistics. Since HIV/AIDS has been around for the entirety of most of our lives, many of us fail to understand the gravity of the disease. Because we live in a nation that is geographically immune to malaria and separated from the vast majority of tuberculosis cases, we forget their existence. But each day millions of children must face these realities, many of them dying from these diseases or being orphaned by them.
We must remember that each of these children has a name, a face and — if we can help give them one — a future.
