We finally have the means to end HIV: drugs to directly stop its transmission and drugs to suppress the viral load in victims to a level that makes it unlikely to be transmitted. The decimation of USAID and now HIV med programs in the US means that it will rapidly return to being a deadly pandemic, one among many as the MAGA dismantle the vaccine programs.
I read about this recently with alarm. I believe this is the real affordability crisis: everything thrown into our laps to fund. We are now paying for news and what used to be public broadcasting education and entertainment. Repealing the ACA subsidies has thrown routine healthcare and the potential personal financial collapse once hedged by insurance into our laps.
Now that Trump has opened his own drugstore, I supposed every drug ever provided--no matter how costly or lifesaving--will have to be privately funded, along with our need to elect qualified candidates to govern us. I ran out of money for political donations a long time ago, so there goes that option.
One of the cruel ironies of the HIV epidemic in the US has been afflicting us with Republican presidents at the start of the crisis (Reagan) and today, when we are finally so close to getting this microbial monster fully leashed with newer, better medication.
We know all too well what happens to people living with HIV who aren't able to access their meds: They get progressively sicker with life-threatening diseases and eventually die before their time. As the virus resurges, it also means that it can be transmitted to others--something that doesn't happen with medically managed HIV.
The best investment of taxpayers' money--short of the wholecloth reinvention of American healthcare we desperately need--is to fully support HIV research and ADAP programs. Make it as easy as possible for HIV+ people to maintain their undetectable status.
Now is not when to drop the ball on the tremendous success we have already made on HIV.
We finally have the means to end HIV: drugs to directly stop its transmission and drugs to suppress the viral load in victims to a level that makes it unlikely to be transmitted. The decimation of USAID and now HIV med programs in the US means that it will rapidly return to being a deadly pandemic, one among many as the MAGA dismantle the vaccine programs.
I read about this recently with alarm. I believe this is the real affordability crisis: everything thrown into our laps to fund. We are now paying for news and what used to be public broadcasting education and entertainment. Repealing the ACA subsidies has thrown routine healthcare and the potential personal financial collapse once hedged by insurance into our laps.
Now that Trump has opened his own drugstore, I supposed every drug ever provided--no matter how costly or lifesaving--will have to be privately funded, along with our need to elect qualified candidates to govern us. I ran out of money for political donations a long time ago, so there goes that option.
One of the cruel ironies of the HIV epidemic in the US has been afflicting us with Republican presidents at the start of the crisis (Reagan) and today, when we are finally so close to getting this microbial monster fully leashed with newer, better medication.
We know all too well what happens to people living with HIV who aren't able to access their meds: They get progressively sicker with life-threatening diseases and eventually die before their time. As the virus resurges, it also means that it can be transmitted to others--something that doesn't happen with medically managed HIV.
The best investment of taxpayers' money--short of the wholecloth reinvention of American healthcare we desperately need--is to fully support HIV research and ADAP programs. Make it as easy as possible for HIV+ people to maintain their undetectable status.
Now is not when to drop the ball on the tremendous success we have already made on HIV.