THE WORLD

OP- ED

What About The Other Global Disaster?

At the start of this New Year, a South African news story was buried in an avalanche of international news.  Almost hidden inside the pages of my morning newspaper was a three-paragraph story on the death of Makgatho Mandela, son of former South African president Nelson Mandela.

But his passing is worth noting.

You see, Makgatho Mandela, 54, a Johannesburg lawyer and the son of one of the world's great AIDS activists, died of complications from AIDS.

And it got me to thinking. I was struck – torn, really – by the contradictions.

The lead story on the front page of the newspaper that day was the tsunami disaster, which has claimed 150,000 lives.  Our minds can hardly grasp that figure.  Millions of people have rallied to help.  Hundreds of millions of dollars have been collected for relief efforts. Governments around the world went into action to carry food and medicines.  Response has been so incredible that, amazingly, several relief and refugee agencies have announced that they have received enough funds to carry out their relief efforts and will not accept further donations.  Yes, our world has been deeply touched by the 150,000 people who lost their lives in this disaster.  And in the space of two weeks, the entire world rose to the challenge of a global disaster.

But there's another global disaster that receives scant attention these days. This year alone, 3.1 million people will die of HIV and AIDS-related complications.

The same was true last year.

... And the year before.

But the media provide little coverage of this global pandemic.  Governments drag their feet to provide meager funding.  Pharmaceutical companies gouge patients with astronomically high drug costs.  The world has not rallied to alleviate this suffering. And despite the global impact, donations to HIV and AIDS organizations are dropping each year.

Why have so many stopped talking about HIV and AIDS?  Why has it become the invisible disease?

Maybe some of it is burnout.  Many of us spent the decade from the early 80's to the early 90's going from hospitals to funeral homes to cemeteries. Day in and day out, year after year. In MCC alone, we buried 6000 MCC friends and members during that period. That takes a devastating emotional toll.

Maybe it's because -- despite all the evidence to the contrary – there is still an assumption by too many people that AIDS is a gay male disease.  In fact, the fastest rising rates of infection are among women and children.

Maybe it's because two-thirds of the world's HIV cases today are in sub-Saharan Africa -- a place far removed from most of our lives. And a place that is not considered "strategic" to many governments and corporations.

I retire as Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches this year.  There is something  powerful about preparing for retirement that helps one focus on what is truly important in life.  I've been asking myself: “How will I spend these next few years? What causes deserve my attention and my voice.”

I intend to spend the next years of my life speaking out on the issues that are important to our world -- and that includes HIV and AIDS.

In announcing his son's death, Nelson Mandela, now 86, said: “Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it.  The only way to make it appear like a normal illness is to come out and to say somebody has died because of HIV. And people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.”

What is truly extraordinary is that each year, 3.1 million people on our planet die of HIV and AIDS. Our world is far too silent in the face of this global tragedy.

Until there is a cure for AIDS, we must not keep silent.

I ask you to join me in prayers for Nelson Mandela in his loss.  He has been a strong and powerful voice – both in South Africa and internationally – on behalf of people with HIV, and his activism has made a profound difference in our world.

I am also asking you to join me in speaking out on behalf of people living with HIV and AIDS.  We must challenge governments to do more. We must demand that pharmaceutical companies provide affordable medications.  We must give generously to AIDS organizations.  We must demand that the media not hide the global disaster of HIV. And we must rally our world to respond to a disease that still claims 3.1 million lives each year.

■  According to estimates from the UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update (December 2004), 37.2 million adults and 2.2 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2004.  This is more than 50% higher than the figures projected by WHO in 1991 on the basis of the data then available.  During 2004, some 4.9 million people became infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.