From this month's editor - AIDS - Brief Article - Editorial

New Internationalist, June, 2002 by Wayne Ellwood

AIDS no longer seems such a big deal to people in the industrialized world. Oh, sure, it's still around - but now it's the junkies, the homeless and the lumpen poor who are the problem, not the gays. And besides we've got those miracle meds now; it's under control.

You've got to pity those poor Africans. But really what can we do?

A lot, as it turns out.

The HIV virus is about to explode in China and India, which together contain nearly half the world's people. And it's already got a foothold in Russia and Latin America. It's a human disaster and it's not going away.

Globalization will see to that: borders are permeable things. Infectious diseases like AIDS can't be sealed off by geography. This is going to take an international campaign and HIV-positive people will have to be at the forefront of the fight for treatment, prevention and care.

People like Derek Thaczuk who works as a treatment resources coordinator at Toronto's People with AIDS Foundation, Derek is HIV positive but for him the AIDS battle is far from over.

"The notion that AIDS affects everybody may sound like spin-doctoring but for me it's never been spin. When I first started doing AIDS work it was mostly gay men like me. But since then I've had to ask the question: "who are my people?" Is it just white, middle-class gay guys like myself or not? Well, let me tell you, the answer is not

Welcome to the real world of AIDS.

Wayne Ellwood

for the New Internationalist

Co-operative

ellwood@web.ca