HIV updates

Over the last week or so, the New York Times had 2 interesting articles about HIV.

One was an opinion piece by AIDS specialist Daniel Halperin, who worries that the large funding provided for HIV treatment in some African countries with relatively low rates of infection would be much better spent on basic health measures such as the provision of clean water. He writes:

As the United States Agency for International Development’s H.I.V. prevention adviser in southern Africa in 2005 and 2006, I visited villages in poor countries like Lesotho, where clinics could not afford to stock basic medicines but often maintained an inventory of expensive AIDS drugs and sophisticated monitoring equipment for their H.I.V. patients. H.I.V.-infected children are offered exemplary treatment, while children suffering from much simpler-to-treat diseases are left untreated, sometimes to die.

It seems to be basically the same point Lomborg has repeatedly made regarding getting priorities right.

The other article goes into detail about the medical complications that ageing HIV sufferers are increasingly facing. The outlook sounds pretty depressing, as they don't even understand what may be causing what illnesses. As I have said before, I would hope that HIV warnings to the young are including details of how the disease and its treatment compromise health in a major way, even if is not the immediate death threat that it used to be.