Consequences of mythology

doi:10.1136/bmj.a162

BMJ 2008;336:1206 (31 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.a162

Letters

Writing on the wall for UNAIDS

Consequences of mythology

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Finally, our attention is brought to the mythology of AIDS inour community.¹ In November 2007 UNAIDS reported that the AIDSpandemic was not increasing, global HIV prevalence being 33.2million in 2007 and 39.5 million in 2006 and global HIV incidence2.5 million in 2007 and 4.3 million in 2006.²

The original proposition that HIV was exceptional led to suchpublic health diversions as the use of option C by the GlobalFund to Fight HIV/AIDS: procurement of products not reviewedby a regulatory authority. In 2007, of 2254 single or limitedsource products procured, a fifth was purchased using optionC.³

The exceptionality of AIDS posited that price was the barrieron access to medicines for the poor. This ignored the incipientcauses of HIV and AIDS: "The prime mover of the epidemic isnot inadequate antiretroviral medications, poverty, or bad luckbut our inability to accept the . . . [Full text of this article]

Jeremiah Norris, director

¹ Center for Science in Public Policy, Hudson Institute, 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20005, USA

jeannie@hudson.org