Registered: Nov 2003
Location: .
Posts: 7835

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HIV 'set to infect 90m Africans'

The UN says the worst is yet to come with the Aids epidemic
Nearly 90 million Africans could be infected by the HIV virus in the next 20 years if more is not done to combat the epidemic, the UN has warned. Some 25 million Africans have HIV, the virus that causes Aids, at present.
The world body estimates the next two decades could see 89 million new cases of the disease in Africa - or up to 10% of the continent's population. The UN recommends a committed campaign against HIV/Aids - and $200bn (£105bn) of investment - to stem its spread. At best, taking more action against Aids could save 16 million people from dying of the disease and a further 43 million people from contracting it, the UN says

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: is futile
Posts: 4983

the AIDS epidemic is in the process of eradicating an entire generation of africans.
what happens when the active adult population has been decimated and only the very young and the very old are left?
and the west thought that it had an age bomb issue... ha!
Worst case scenario is IMHO a complete shut-down of the economies of several african countries. With social upheaval, massive migration waves and widespread starvation as a result.

I think the best the west can do is to

1) develop drugs to enable afflicted people to keep on being productive, and make these available to all for free (abolish patent laws for these products). Make the effort similar to the war on poxviridae in scope and tenacity.

2) open up our markets for african products, even to the detriment of our own producers. We are faced with a simple choice. Either we import their products, or we import them. without the means of being competitive on the export market, all a person can do to earn a bit o' cash is to migrate to somewhere where a market exists. Or you can starve to death.

Cheers
-m

Last edited by mudded on 03-04-2005 at 10:33 AM

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: atlanta
Posts: 6347

just don't fuck black people and you'll be okay, C_R

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

I'm all for opening markets to products from Africa (and everywhere else). It would probably do a fair amount of good for them economically, particularly in agricultural markets.

Abolishing patent protections for AIDS drugs is just crazy, though. It's the single most counterprodutive thing that can be done where R&D against the disease is concerned.

Support for prevention programs, perhaps along the lines of the Ugandan model, might be worth a shot.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: NYC
Posts: 11770

But I like spending $6 for a tiny can of peanuts.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Kansas City
Posts: 7504

Good point. US consumers also win with the reduction of tariffs.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: south afrika
Posts: 16487

quote:

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Originally posted by mudded


I think the best the west can do is to

1) develop drugs to enable afflicted people to keep on being productive, and make these available to all for free (abolish patent laws for these products). Make the effort similar to the war on poxviridae in scope and tenacity.

2) open up our markets for african products, even to the detriment of our own producers. We are faced with a simple choice. Either we import their products, or we import them. without the means of being competitive on the export market, all a person can do to earn a bit o' cash is to migrate to somewhere where a market exists. Or you can starve to death.

Cheers
-m

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Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 8650

quote:

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Originally posted by Hawley Griffin
3) wait and let the problem solve it self

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Registered: Dec 2004
Location: Beringia
Posts: 5207

quote:

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Originally posted by Hawley Griffin
3) wait and let the problem solve it self

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Registered: May 2002
Location:
Posts: 8650

quote:

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Originally posted by CHiPsJr
Abolishing patent protections for AIDS drugs is just crazy, though. It's the single most counterprodutive thing that can be done where R&D against the disease is concerned.

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Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 15982

quote:

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Originally posted by mmmtravis
Heh, I wonder if a cure would be as profitable as a lifelong treatment.

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: Centrally isolated
Posts: 280

quote:

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Originally posted by mmmtravis
Heh, I wonder if a cure would be as profitable as a lifelong treatment.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: is futile
Posts: 4983

my reason fow wanting to clamp down on the patent laws regarding aids medicine is that these patent laws currently prohibit life-prolonging medicines from being available to the millions who need them. 3rd world pharmacuetical companies have offered to make copies of said drugs at a fraction of the current cost, but alas... the patent laws hinders them in proceeding.

a drug too expensive to utilize and unavailable for disemmination via alternative production means is worthless, IMHO.

Cheers
-m

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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: south afrika
Posts: 16487

first they cry over how all those babies are dying all over the world and that we need to do something about it.

then they cry over how the world is over-populated and that we need to do something about it

im probably the only one thats laughing

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Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Den
Posts: 10984

Then people try for twenty years to point out that there might be problems with AIDS in Africa, and then other people ignore it until it becomes a popular issue to demonstrate interest in.
I am personally sorry that AIDS is such a boring disease. I'd like to see that mad cow disease run rampant instead, perhaps with a sprinkle of Ebola. Raging insanity + bleeding pores = win.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: At Home
Posts: 4057

According to my dear President Thabo Mbeki, AIDS is just a tool of western oppression and does not exist as anything other than a further form of keeping the blackman under the boot.

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Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 2573

Shit they're on to us.

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Registered: Oct 2002
Location:
Posts: 1213

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Originally posted by loser
You're confused. The west is resposible for both causing all the problems in the world and for solving them once they crop up. Sadly, follow through isn't what it could be.

Aids, the Rowanda genocide and the recent tsunami are good examples of the west's poor work ethic.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 12547

quote:

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Originally posted by CHiPsJr
I'm all for opening markets to products from Africa (and everywhere else). It would probably do a fair amount of good for them economically, particularly in agricultural markets.

Abolishing patent protections for AIDS drugs is just crazy, though. It's the single most counterprodutive thing that can be done where R&D against the disease is concerned.

Support for prevention programs, perhaps along the lines of the Ugandan model, might be worth a shot.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Little Rock.
Posts: 2560

Napalm works wonders.

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Registered: Oct 2002
Location:
Posts: 1213

quote:

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Originally posted by rodney
Napalm works wonders.

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Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 15982

With fools spreading such hateful myths as "fucking a virgin cures HIV", and that spreading the disease through as many partners as possible will dilute its effects on you, Africa has no hope of eradicating the disease.

Does that mean the west should pour billions down the rathole of corruption which that continent is? No, IMO, it does not. Does it mean we should subsidize their industries so they can dump products on our markets? No, IMO, it does not. Does it mean we should open our doors to those fleeing the hellholes they have created? No, IMO, it does not.

They have created this hell for themselves. Let them climb out themselves.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: At Home
Posts: 4057

Africa is in desperate need of being left alone, the rest of the world should stop giving aid to people living in places that cannot sustain life, it only multiplies the number of people needing aid in the future and nothing will change the environment that still will not be able to sustain them.

Corruption is normal, but don't throw stones from inside glass houses, the USA has plenty.

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