Politics to trump science in its efforts to combat" HIV/AIDS,

Now Available
HMA's Pamphlet
Are You At Risk
for Hepatitis C?
includes a "In Home"
Test kit Voucher

Hepatitis C
Movement for Awareness
Activism in Action

Inflating HIV to "dramatize the epidemic

Global Challenges | Books Accuse UNAIDS of Inflating HIV Prevalence Estimates To Increase Donor Funding
[Aug 31, 2007]

UNAIDS in two recently published books has "come under stinging attack" and been accused of "allowing politics to trump science in its efforts to combat" HIV/AIDS, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. According to AFP/Yahoo! News, the books have "sparked a wide-ranging debate" among HIV/AIDS advocates about how to fight the spread of the disease and "raised questions about UNAIDS' leadership."

U.S. epidemiologist James Chin in his book, "The AIDS Pandemic," accused UNAIDS of inflating HIV prevalence estimates to "dramatize the epidemic" and increase donor funding. Chin "appeared vindicated" earlier this year, when India reduced its HIV/AIDS caseload estimate to 2 million to 3.1 million people, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. UNAIDS previously estimated that the country had about 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS. In addition, the organization estimated that 1.6% of adults in Cambodia were HIV-positive, but the estimate later was reduced to 0.6% of adults, AFP/Yahoo! News reports.

Prasada Rao, UNAIDS regional director for Asia, said that the higher estimates were based on data from clinics, which experts used to estimate the number of people in the general population living with the virus. Rao added that the lower estimates were based on improved, random surveys among households, which provided a better analysis of the general population. "I don't see any motive on the part of UNAIDS to inflate numbers," Rao said, adding that he does not "think there is any axe to grind in this case."

Most experts agree that HIV/AIDS caseload estimates "remain a guess best used to show trends in each country," according to AFP/Yahoo! News. "There is a fine line between deliberately lying with the numbers or using the upper range of estimates that are based on slim assumptions and unrepresentative data," Chin said in an e-mail to Agence France Press. Both Chin and Rao agreed that the debate should focus more on how to spend resources than on the number of people living with HIV/AIDS.

In another recently published book, "The Invisible Cure," Helen Epstein, who studied HIV/AIDS in Africa, wrote that UNAIDS either misunderstood or ignored data in the mid-1990s that showed the practice of having multiple, long-term sexual partners was common in Eastern and Southern Africa and allowed HIV to spread quickly through the region. According to Epstein, rather than encouraging people to be faithful to one partner, UNAIDS focused on condom use and abstinence, which she says was less effective but more politically appealing.

Epstein added that the organization "overblew the prospects" for an HIV epidemic in Asia, where the virus is spread mainly through high-risk groups, whereas in Africa it is spread among the general population. "They got it almost perfectly wrong in some places," she said. Epstein added that UNAIDS previously focused more on potential HIV/AIDS outbreaks in other parts of the world rather than on addressing the disease in the most affected African countries.

Rao said he is concerned that if advocates believe UNAIDS is manipulating data, the agency's reputation and efforts to eradicate the disease could be damaged. "UNAIDS is not saying the data is wrong. It is accepting the data and trying to harmonize the facts," Rao said, adding, "That shows the openness that the organization has got on this issue. And it is prepared to correct its data (and) revise its data based on other sources of information" (Shea, AFP/Yahoo! News, 8/29).

The Fair Foundation September 2007 NewsLetter
http://fairfoundation.org/news_letter/2007/03sept/000newsletter.htm

HIV affecting global mining & value of your gold
Reuters felt it important to bring to our attention that Russian and South African gold miners are causing a $5 expense increase to the price of gold because the miners are using prostitutes frequently. What a blessing that "miners worldwide are anxious to build on lessons learned in South Africa to try to stem the spread of HIV in other countries." This HIV story of questionable headline value may be viewed by clicking on the gold.

Deja Vu: India

We previously reported that the UNAIDS estimate of HIV infections for India was in error by 71 percent. In the latest statistical reporting confirmed by India's Health Minister and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we now see that UNAIDS was even worse in its estimates. The UNAIDS estimate that was promulgated in the press is in error by 128 percent, that is, the previous estimate of 5.7 million is 128 percent too high. Stay tuned for future revisions.

Two New books accuse UNAIDS of Exaggerating
HIV stats to increase donor funding

UNAIDS: The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS has been called to task by two authors, one an epidemiologist, for occasionally inflating HIV/AIDS statistics in their new books. Says Chin, "There is a fine line between deliberately lying with the numbers or using the upper range of estimates that are based on slim assumptions and unrepresentative data." Click on the logo for the full story.

HIV & AIDS don't discriminate by age, experts say
Free condoms + $1 million New York senior ad campaign

The New York experts state that seniors are still having sex, therefore they should be given condoms and $1 million in education. What the experts failed to report, and by so doing spread misinformation to drug-free heterosexual seniors, is that virtually all cases of HIV are due to male to male sex, IV drug use or having sex with someone who has HIV. This small group within the senior population is the recipient of the $1 million dollar campaign.

News Headline: "HIV high in DC female inmates"

After testing thousands of female inmates in Washington, DC, the actual number with HIV is reported at 7 percent and how many is that? 44 women. Is that "high." Devon Brown, Department of Corrections director, states the figure is representative and that commercial sex work and injection drug use -- which cause HIV -- are the most common [criminal] charges among female inmates. The proper headline: "HIV rate in DC female inmates as expected" which, of course, is not worthy of headline news.

CDC admits overestimating AIDS cases by thousands

The overestimate of AIDS cases began in 2001 and ended up totaling 8.3 percent for 2005. Full story here

FAIR corrects Desert AIDS Project Director

Palm Springs, CA HIV/AIDS patients are blessed to have very wealthy donors whose contributions have made possible, as stated on their website, "free HIV testing, counseling, home health services, legal assistance, assistance with housing [in a new 80 unit apt. bldg], medications, food, re-employment, and prevention and education outreach is available to any group. As a fundraiser, D.A.P. operates 5 thrift stores." In his efforts to raise funds with raised fears about HIV/AIDS, their Director, David Brinkman (seen in picture) made statements in Palm Springs life magazine that we believe were hyperbole and not factual. Has PS Life had the courage to print our rebuttal submitted to provide factual balance? Not yet...