Neglected Election Issues: HIV/AIDS Podcast

HIV/AIDS is getting alot of media attention the week before we all fall into the Beijing Olympics news hole.

I suppose we could call it a planned confluence of events. A major international AIDS conference is being held in Mexico City this week. Former President Bill Clinton will be there, reporting on his Foundation's efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be discussing its recently published statistics which show that the annual number of new HIV infections is 56,000 people as opposed to an annual incidence figure of 40,000 that it has published in recent years.

Finally, a few days ago, the California-based Black AIDS Institute published a comprehensive report, calling for a shift in both public and private sector approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and support programs in the U.S. The reasons? According to the report, HIV/AIDS continues to hit Black Americans the hardest, and the number of new infections in the Black community is rising. Notably, among Black women between the ages of 25-34, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death. It is the second leading cause of death for Black men ages 35-44.

Indeed, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is not limited to a few high risk and vulnerable groups as we would find in a concentrated epidemic, in this case, men who have sex with men and intravenous drug users, but has now become a generalized epidemic. A generalized epidemic, according to UNAIDS, one of most respected agencies which monitors the AIDS epidemic world-wide, is one when the adult HIV prevalence exceeds 1% and when one or more of a specific population has HIV infection levels of more than 5%. This is the case, in Black America. And more specifically, nearer to home. For example, the report says, that in Detroit, HIV prevalence is 5% or more in 9 zip codes. Further, Blacks represent 89% of all HIV cases in the city. And, based on comparisons with other countries with high rates of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of report HIV/AIDS cases in Detroit is higher than in Rwanda, one of the countries where former President Clinton is doing his good work.

In this election year, we would like to look at a whole range of issues we think are neglected. These issues have ethical dimensions. In addition, they are both close to our homes in Michigan, and they heavily impact people in their 20s and 30s.

HIV/AIDS is one such issue. We are interested in solutions and individuals and groups who are doing something about this issue in our state and elsewhere.

To start, we want to invite you to listen to an a2ethics.org podcast with a group who is trying to solve this complex health dilemma that is HIV/AIDS: the HIV/AIDS Resource Center, known as HARC, in Ypsilanti. We had the privilege of talking to Executive Director, Jimena Loveluck. We hope you will listen and recommend some prevention, treatment and support programs that you know of that are working to reduce HIV/AIDS.

Go to the podcasts menu and scroll down to our interview with Jimena Loveluck now!