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As I'm sure many of you have noticed, most of the public health news recently has focused on the aftermath of the Aceh earthquake and tsunami, and rightly so. With close to 120,000 confirmed dead, it is the most devistating natural disaster in recent history. Now that the destruction has passed, world relief efforts are to begin focusing on preventing further deaths due to disease and malnutrition. It is conceivable that close to a quarter of a million people could die as a direct or indirect result of the disaster. But to put things into perspective, UNAIDS estimates that in 2004, 3.1 million men, women and children died of AIDS. That breaks down to over a quarter of a million every month. I certainly don't wish to minimize the suffering of anyone who lost their homes or loved ones, or to detract from the overall severity of the situation in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, or the other affected nations. On the contrary, I want to draw attention to it as a public health crisis, but also to use it to put the AIDS crisis into a new perspective. Twelve 9.0 earthquakes and tidal waves every year. That's AIDS. I'll keep the rest brief: Promising results in initial trials of immune boosting AIDS treatment Woman dies in AIDS drug experiment; Family sues Oops... I'm out of time. Happy new year everyone! Post a comment in response: |
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