According to the passage, NGO’s play the following roles in combating aids except _________.
Directions: Answer the question based on the following passage.
During the twenty-year AIDS epidemic, almost twenty-two million people worldwide have died of the disease and an estimated 36 million are living with the HIV virus, which develops into AIDS. The first reported cases of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s were followed, especially in the West, by rapid scientific advances in naming the disease, finding its cause, and learning about its modes of transmission. This burst of scientific discovery fostered the optimism that AIDS could be conquered. However, by the mid-1980s, the disease was recognized as an international epidemic. It spread explosively across the African continent and in many other parts of the world, including Asia and South America. It is estimated that 90 to 95 percent of AIDS infections occur in developing countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa where some of the world’s worst living conditions exist. According to current estimates, 70 percent of those infected with AIDS live in this region. Today, AIDS is called pandemic because it has spread to every inhabited continent in the world.
Globally, AIDS is a disease, which has been, and continues to be, primarily a sexually transmitted disease (STD) spread through unprotected sex between heterosexual men and women. It is shortening the life expectancy of working-age adults, dramatically increasing the number of infant and child deaths, shrinking the workforce, creating millions of orphans, widening the gap between rich and poor countries, and reversing developmental gains. Currently, the areas most affected by AIDS are Africa, India, and China. Almost every country in Asia and the Pacific area has recently experienced an increase in HIV infections.
In response to the magnitude of the AIDS crisis, countries throughout the world have developed National AIDS Programs (NAPs) adapted to the specific needs of their populations. The World Health Organization (WHO), a United Nations agency, founded a global HIV/AIDS trust fund in 1987 to help fund the NAP programs. These programs focus on the prevention of the sexual transmission of HIV and the transmission of HIV through blood and blood products, including injection drug use. The NAP programs have also supported strong international efforts to de-stigmatize AIDS and to ensure the human rights of those with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the programs attempt to reduce mother-to-child transmissions, which are a much greater issue in less affluent countries.
These national programs sometimes include working in partnerships with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs, at the national level, provide a broad range of services, from confidential counseling and testing to support and legal services for people with AIDS. Some NGOs focus on solidarity, bringing people with AIDS together to fight the disease. Organizations composed of people living with HIV/AIDS are extensive and do international advocacy work to deal with the AIDS epidemic. One such organization, the Global Network of People Living with AIDS (GNP+), encourages members to network and share personal experiences. The organization leads the movement working to establish AIDS self-help groups. NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, and The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power have pressed drug companies to reduce their prices to poor countries. These activists are working to get generic versions of AIDS drugs at drastically reduced prices to countries in need.
Worldwide organizations have brought attention and resources to the global response to AIDS. The International AIDS Conference, which first convened in April 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia, has been the primary venue for professionals to share scientific and medical advances in AIDS research, as well as a forum for important AIDS policy debates. In addition, the United Nations established the joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to work with national governments and others to alleviate the AIDS epidemic. For example, in 1997, the UN gave China a 1.8 million dollar grant to help fight AIDS over a four year period. China used the funds to train ministry workers and increase prevention education among high-risk populations. HIV education programs are common in urban areas of China, but they have not reached rural areas. Another organization, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, founded in 1993 in London, England, focuses its efforts in Africa, South America, and Asia, working to build up local AIDS organizations in these areas.
One of the few success stories in the fight against AIDS is Thailand, where the use of condoms is mandatory in brothels, which are closed down if they do not comply with government regulations. Thailand is one of the two developing nations, along with Uganda, which has experienced a drop in HIV infection rates and is a prime example of how prevention practices can work. In eastern Africa, where the rates of new infections are also beginning to stabilize or even decline, Uganda was the first country to report its AIDS cases. In the 1980s this country had the world’s highest HIV infection rates, but the government responded quickly. After prevention through education and the promotion of safe-sex practices such as the use of condoms, Uganda has also experienced a decline in HIV rates.
Although some prevention efforts have succeeded, many analysts believe that the ultimate solution to the global AIDS crisis is the development of a vaccine that will prevent people from contracting AIDS in the first place. Many researchers believe that the development of a preventive vaccine is possible and absolutely necessary in order to eradicate AIDS. However, many pharmaceutical companies do not want to invest in AIDS vaccine research because of the large expense involved and the belief that profits could not be made on the vaccines. Funding for research to develop an AIDS vaccine comes from several sources, mainly the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), UNAIDS, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. government agencies, and a few multinational pharmaceutical companies. In 1997 U.S. President Bill Clinton called for the development of an HIV vaccine within a decade and announced a new center for vaccine research. Some researchers believe that a vaccine will be developed in the next five to seven years.
In the meantime, AIDS continues to spread in the developing world. Although successes have occurred, many experts contend that much more needs to be done. They argue that the response to AIDS needs to be of greater duration, greater quality, and greater scope to reach the many areas of life which AIDS touches and affects. Working together with others in the international community utilizing multiple approaches will enhance the ability of developing nations to cope with the disease. The viewpoints in AIDS in Developing Countries: At Issue explore the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has become an ongoing challenge to human ingenuity and compassion.