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 6/9/05 TO:
Mr. Robert Williams:
Director of
Communication, Episcopal Church
RE: “AIDS
infections up, funding down, say advocates”
at Dear Mr. Williams, Regarding your story above and the statement that AIDS infections are up and funding down, I am writing to ask that you add more balance and disclosure to such reports and I offer the following information for your review: The death rate in our country from AIDS has plummeted as evidenced by the 98 percent drop in California’s newly infected AIDS patients[i] to 236 (as of 4/30/05) and this success against AIDS is being repeated throughout America, yet AIDS still receives ten percent of the entire National Institutes of Health (NIH) disease research budget. Such exorbitant funding for AIDS has resulted in unfair allocations for all non-AIDS diseases, including the sixteen that kill a million more Americans than AIDS annually.[ii] For example, cardiovascular disease kills almost a million Americans compared to 18,017 (2003)[iii] for AIDS, yet the NIH is spending only $40 on each CVD patient versus $3,084 on each AIDS patient in research.[iv] Diabetes kills more citizens than AIDS and breast cancer combined, yet only $80 is spent on each diabetic in research. Only eighty-eight citizens died of the West Nile Virus (WNV) in 2004,[v] yet $17,408 is being spent on each patient infected with WNV and while hepatitis C (HCV) affects 4-5 times as many as AIDS and kills almost as many, only $25 is allocated for each HCV patient. Regardless if the funding comparison is measured utilizing “allocation per patient,” “allocation per death” or “total allocation” per disease, the great success of AIDS researchers has resulted in funding for AIDS now being disproportionate and inequitable. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars are raised for AIDS by celebrities and non-profit organizations (amfAR, etc.) while similar efforts do not exist for most of the other diseases. The NIH has responded to The FAIR Foundation’s requests to cease the favoritism afforded HIV/AIDS and to reallocate some of the present AIDS dollars to other diseases by referencing global AIDS and the fact that AIDS is communicable (infectious). What is the solution for global AIDS—more research? No, the answer to global AIDS is the same solution that has dropped the death rate in California 98 percent, namely: preventive education, the drugs that have been developed that have converted AIDS from an acute illness into a chronic illness (HAART or Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy) and Harm Reduction Policies. Regarding the “communicable” nature of AIDS, Congress must force realization upon the NIH that simply because an illness is “infectious” does not warrant disproportionate research funding. Furthermore, patients suffering from non-communicable illnesses such as prostate diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, etc. should not be discriminated against because they cannot transmit their disease to another person or because its etiology is congenital or acquired by environmental causes. An unrecognized factor negatively impacting all non-AIDS diseases is the “compounding effect” of present NIH policy. The present funding total of each disease may be viewed as their “principal balance” for this analogy. If the President announces a 2 percent increase in NIH funding, the increase in AIDS funding will be approximately $60 million whereas Alzheimer’s disease will receive only $14 million and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) $1 million even though those two diseases kill, respectively, three and nine times more Americans than AIDS. Each year the additional increases in the “principle balance,” or total funding, results in the “compounding interest effect” that increases the disproportionate funding for AIDS. Consequently, the gap in funding between AIDS and all other diseases grows even larger. In addition, it cannot go unnoticed that in one more year, the total funding by our government to fight HIV/AIDS will approach one-fifth of a Trillion dollars. [vi] The FAIR Foundation (FAIR is an acronym for “Fair Allocations In Research) is a national organization representing thousands of Americans—concerned citizens—who want the success of AIDS advocates and AIDS researchers recognized with a corresponding change in the allocation priorities of the NIH. On behalf of our members we respectfully request that you add balance to your stories on AIDS by disclosing the actual numbers when you state “AIDS Infections Up” and “AIDS infections are on the rise, particularly among women and people of colour” so that your readers can make a knowledgeable assessment of the degree of importance to attribute to that statistic. In the latest CDC report, the number of women who died of AIDS is 4,736 (compare to 267,000, 68,510 and 40,410 for heart dis., lung CA and breast CA respectively[vii]) and the number of deaths in African-Americans is 9,048 [viii] compared to their # 1 killer: 104,000 for cardiovascular disease. [ix] We thank you for your consideration.
Richard Darling, DDS
**
COPD = Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease [i]
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/aids/Statistics/pdf/Stats2005/Apr05AIDSmerged.pdf
Page two The Rev. Jan Nunley, Deputy for Communication, replied as follows: Dear Dr. Darling, The story in question did not originate with ENS [Episcopal News Service]. It came from the Anglican Journal, an independent publication based in Toronto, Ontario, CA." Dr. Darling responded as follows: Dear Reverend Nunley, Thank you for clarifying this issue. I will contact the Angelican Journal also. I am respectfully requesting that you and Robert Williams forward my letter to the ENS so they can consider adding balance and disclosure of all facts to such stories on HIV/AIDS when they opt to carry them. Gratefully, Richard
Richard Darling, DDS |
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