Editorial
World AIDS Day

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Forty million people live with HIV, sustained by drugs that deter replication of the infection. Brazil has made the commitment to antiretroviral treatment for all who need it. South Africa has emerged from a strange, confused period about the disease to make the same pledge.

Africa is devastated by HIV and the opportunistic diseases clustered under the AIDS syndrome, but there are areas of progress. In Uganda, AIDS statistics fell for the 12th straight year. The percentage of pregnant women infected with AIDS has fallen in the capital cities of Rwanda and Ethiopia.

In China, Russia and India, the news is still grim, indeed. But the $4.7 billion spent worldwide this year, a 50 percent increase over last year, has made its mark.

The killer diseases such as tuberculosis, which claims the most HIV-infected lives, need to be confronted. But the bad news cannot be allowed to overshadow the impact money and education can make.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company