Here's the full BMJ editorial from Roger England calling for shutting down UNAIDS:
"The Writing is on the Wall for UNAIDS"
Everyone should really take time to read the rapid responses, as well:
Rapid responses to England editorial
Compare the calm and reasoned tone by England and Mead Over to the hysterical, irrelevant, comical, overtly political and occasionally nonsensical responses posted there. In particular, note the following posted by England, graphing BOD (burden of disease) against % of funding devoted to AIDS. All data points above the line represent countries receiving more aid for HIV than justified by their BOD. (Click for a larger view.)
Here are some of our favorite quotes from the "many vested interests and reputations at stake":
“The AIDS movement fights inequality, gender and sexual orientation oppression, the economies that structure vulnerability, the corporations that withhold life-saving medicines, the weak health systems that restrict scale-up, and the national and international political systems have mounted a lethargic response at best.”
“We believe that HIV is more than a disease.”
“Eminent British scientist Professor Roy Anderson modelled the course of the epidemic and estimated it will take 130 years to work through the global population.”
“Is HIV exceptional? Yes! The HIV pandemic fits the definition of exceptional, 'unusual, not typical'. We all know this in our hearts...”
“HIV is a special virus, with genetic mutability unseen before that constantly challenges a 'status quo' approach to treatment and research.”
and our personal favorite:
“The need for an exceptional response will continue until HIV/AIDS is no longer an exceptional disease...”
We are reminded of another quote, 25 years ago:
“[T]here are powerful forces at work to delay the solution of the puzzle posed by this epidemic and to obscure its group-fantasy origins, since the epidemic itself is a wished-for solution to pre-existing conflicts.”
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.