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As we stand at the dawn of the 21st century, AIDS continues to annihilate the workforce on most continents. However, before we assess our achievements in tackling the deadly virus, we need to readdress that in spite of millions of deaths and infections, many among us continue to treat AIDS as ’someone else’s problem’.
In an unfortunate message about HIV-positive people, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has outraged health activists and made his front bench feel embarrassed by calling for a ban on HIV-positive migrants and refugees to Australia.
For over 20 years, the world has been living and dealing with AIDS. However, the numbers have been rising making the epidemic the fourth largest global killer. This mistaken belief that AIDS is someone else’s problem continue to reverse the achievements we accomplish.
This emotional aspect associated with the epidemic is not only important to bring about anticipated changes while dealing with the deadly virus but also important to point out that for global thinking to succeed it has to be founded on concrete perspectives.
Stigma or cowardice?
John Howard’s act shows cowardice when 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide and when political will on the part of governments and the international community becomes most essential to handle the issue.
Still we need to overcome the stigma and discrimination and changing the way the so-called developed societies respond to people living with HIV. Only open hearts and minds would beat HIV and AIDS, and reverse the global trend of barring infected children from schools, dismissing HIV-positive adults from their jobs and new in this regard - barring them from coming to some countries.
Psychological battle
In the absence of effective medication for the disease, we can only recognize the psychological depth of the battle and fight it out. Psychological distress is not an optional extra but is central to the battle against AIDS. Social exclusion like Australia offers to the HIV positive people is denial to their most basic human rights - freedom from discrimination. This kind of discrimination may discourage them from disclosing their status or seeking treatment, thus worsening the impact of the disease.
RSS 
Some times bitter pills have to take to cure the disease.
Australia was among the first countries in the world to report AIDS cases. And, an estimated 14,000 people were living with HIV/AIDS in Australia at the end of 2003.
What makes dreadful imagination is: in recognition of the high priority Australia placed on “helping countries” combat HIV/AIDS, it had approved a Global HIV/AIDS Initiative totalling $600 million over the ten years from 2000 - 2010. But, the recent announcement by John Howard, goes on to tell ‘a different story’ to the world that we are ‘helping countries” in combating HIV but people infected from the ‘very countries’ are banned from entering Australia.
I see some unpleasant connect in the above: help countries ‘financially’; hate countries ‘psychologically’ – after all, its global fight on HIV/AIDS.
Banning HIV-positive migrants and refugees to Australia certainly is an unfortunate and irresponsible pronouncement by the Australian Prime Minister, which will not only shatter the already dying passion and zeal for life of the HIV-affected people but also will affect the worldwide campaign to eradicate the deadly disease.