How Education Fights AIDS: Raising awareness, and therefore donors, ensures proper HIV and AIDS funding and support are obtainable for those who need them.
See The Washington Post story, “Slowed funding threatens AIDS fight, group says. Recession, other factors causing international donors to pull back.”
With funding from international donors tacking a backseat, the ability to effectively treat AIDS patients in the developing world is stalling. Doctors Without Borders reports said the global economic crisis and other financial factors are causing some clinics to turn away new patients or accept them only after current patients die.
Some blame programs—such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)—that delivered initial funding for AIDS treatment and efforts, but may not be able to continue long-term financial support and results.
Several critics also say there is a need to fund more global health programs in general and not only HIV and AIDS. The latter issue can be seen as an expensive cause to support and not a “cheap and easy” issue to address.
-Whitney Isenhower
Tags: Doctors Without Borders, economy, financial support, PEPFAR
