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Editorial: Not as easy as 'abc'
| Last updated: 27.10.04 |
This month’s bumper issue includes a report on the XV International AIDS Conference. Much debate occurred in Bangkok over the controversial US prevention policy dubbed ‘ABC’, which seems to favour abstinence and monogamy over condoms, excludes needle-exchange and other harm-reduction programmes, and comes as the strings attached to US$14 billion in aid money promised over the next five years.
But another ‘ABC’ is obviously lacking –access to antiretrovirals for 90% of the people who need it; basic HIV information to allow sexual decision-making when coercion isn’t an issue; and a coherent leadership who can agree on how best to stem the tide of rampant HIV, TB and malaria.
We now have 19 different antiretrovirals to choose from in the UK, an embarrassment of riches that is still far from a perfect treatment for HIV disease. Megan Nicholson reports how the five new drugs that have become available over the past three years are being used in UK clinics.
If you think the global AIDS situation is depressing, you might want to redefine what that word means after reading Gus Cairns’ overview of mental health and how it affects HIV disease, and vice versa.
Happy reading!