A fine mess of contradictions

The biggest health issue of our generation

I hope to report some day on the biggest issue- not just health issue- of our lifetime. I don't know when I became interested in HIV/AIDS but it has only grown in multitudes throughout the years. Pretty sure everyone is tired of me writing about it and talking about it but I cannot stop. I think when I first learned what it was I was shocked that it was affecting so much of the world, and the world's most vulnerable, because it is preventable. I had been thinking about becoming involved for a few years- signed up to volunteer for World AID's Day at Western (twice and never once got contacted) and looked at volunteering at Stephen Lewis' Foundation if I could find the time.

But I had always wanted to go and try to help or at least see what the situation really was firsthand.

Someone who really inspired me to pursue my interests in travelling and learning about this deadly virus was my friend Dallas. Yes, lame I know because she does read this blog, but I don't mean this in a sucking-up kind of way. Initially, I vaguely knew her through the student newspaper The Gazette and began dating one of her friends. Adam told me about her blog that summer when I was stuck working in a soul-sucking bank job and I began to read it religiously. Her writing was inspiring. She worked with Western Heads East, a program through UWO that works in Tanzania in East Africa with probiotic yogurt.

My friend Rob also did the program and though I think it sounded really challenging they both definitely got something out of it. It was a life-changing experiences for a few people that I respected. Reading Dallas' blog I felt like I could relate. Like if she could handle all the pressures placed before her, such as malaria, aggressive men, being a single white female and clear minority alone in a foreign country, that I could face my fears and do the same. I drew courage from reading about her experiences.

So when I look at someone like my pseudo-role model Stephanie Nolen and think that she has captured some of the biggest stories in our generation, I feel like there are many doing the same, and yet there needs to be many more. In the book signing I saw her at she said that her AIDS stories weren't just about reporting on the virus, it was also that she was reporting on the biggest news story of our lifetime. And she was right. I hope that there is a solution, a vaccine, a magical drug to fix it all but I don't know if it will go away while I am alive. Because it is not as simple as a cure.

I did my last radio story on a professor at Schulich at Western who has been working on a vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Dr. Yong Kang is three years away from a therapeutic vaccine and six years away from a preventative vaccine if all goes well. He is less than a year away from human clinical trials of the vaccine and currently the drugs for the first trials are being manufactured in the United States. I read this in a former issue of the Alumni News from Western and almost couldn't believe what I read. I knew that I wanted to incorporate him into my journalism stories if I could. Speaking to him was so exciting and inspiring I almost didn't care if I got good clips for my radio story. He amazed me- that after twenty years of research he could be that close to a vaccine for a plague that is literally ravaging half the world.

But even if he does solve the scientific aspect of the virus it is not that simple, as a representative from the AIDS Committee of London reminded me. He said that he does not want people to think that there is a simple cure for HIV. He told me that 25 to 30 per cent of Canadians already think that there is a cure. This is ludicrous to me, but I can see how misinformed the general public was and even how misinformed I was before I worked at the HIV/AIDS clinic in Kumasi.

There are an estimated 55,000 people in Canada living with HIV/AIDS and many of these people may not know they are infected he told me. It is not necessarily something that drugs can solve and it is not so simple. Besides, there are no guarantees that the vaccine will succeed or that it will be able to fix those already infected. I was cautious in my story about these scientific innovations in the field of AIDS research to include these statistics, so that people know that it exists in Canada, that they are vulnerable and that AIDS is not an African disease.

Dr. Kang also inspired me in another way. I didn't get the full story out of him because he is a busy man, but basically I understood that when and if his HIV/AIDS vaccine succeeds he has made a deal with a Korean-based company to distribute these drugs to developing nations such as those in sub-saharan Africa for free. I don't think that eliminating AIDS will transform developing nations into developed ones, but I cannot even imagine the impact it could have. It could be revolutionary. It could be like a miracle. A Lazarus-effect for a continent, nations, halves of the world.

But there are millions more problems in the developing world. There is still malaria, tuberculosis, corruption, countries in debt, serious health care issues, safety, human rights issues, and things as simple as diarrhea that kill thousands of children. But a way to solve a world-wide problem that kills parents, vulnerable children and women, the middle-aged population and leaves grandmothers as primary caregivers could transform the economies and social settings in many nations. There is always hope of such a transformation. And I hope to follow this story throughout my life.

I don't know where I'm going with this as I often don't, but I have been mulling this story around in my head for a few weeks. I want to tell more, do more, see more. I need to do that wherever I am.

posted by Kate @ 8:05 PM