Most of you probably recognize the girl on the left of this picture as Jordan Arters. Who you probably don't recognize is Jonah on the right. Jonah actually isn't his real name, he really doesn't have a name. For this reason Jordan took it upon herself to name him. The reason Jonah isn't really named is because he doesn't have any parents. Jonah is one of 18 million AIDS orphans currently living worldwide. Here are some interesting FACTS to look at.
-By 2010 there will be 25 million AIDS orphans
-Every 14 seconds a baby is orphaned due to the AIDS epidemic
-AIDS claimed 540,000 lives in Asia 2004, 2.3 million in Sub-Saharan Africa.
-Generic AIDS medicine costs just $140 per patient per year.
-The U.S. is currently spending $500 million over 3 years in Africa.
-Currently 25.4 million people in Africa are infected with HIV or AIDS.
-The U.S. has spent somewhere between 2.6-2.9 billion dollars on AIDS and AIDS research per year in recent years.
-The war in Iraq is currently costing the U.S. 5 billion dollars a month. Thats $5,000,000,000.
It seems strange to me that we're focusing so hard. and spending so much to free the people of Iraq, yet in comparison not doing much at all to fight an epidemic that is currently killing worldwide. Not only is HIV/AIDS being spread and taking lives throughout the world, but is also spreading and killing here in the U.S. Think about this:
-The monetary cost of one month of the Iraq war could provide medicine for almost 600,000 people... for the rest of their lives.
-540,000 lives in Asia in 2004... thats almost 200 9-11's, 100's of Katrina's, almost three Indian Ocean Tsunami's... and remember that is one year in one country.
Jonah is over a year old now, he's learned to walk, and has been found not to have HIV. Although this disease isn't going to take his life, it already took his parents from him just like countless other kids in Cambodia and worldwide. Aids is only one problem the U.S. and the world faces, what would 5 billion dollars a month do for cancer, MS, poverty, hunger, etc.... It just makes me wonder why the conflict in Iraq is so much more important than other bigger problems that the U.S. and the world are facing.
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10 comments:
good points, something to definitely chew on but ill stay out of the debate.
ds
Corey you know I'm not the political man, and you probably know where I stand anyway, but next time you talk to Jordo tell her I think what she is doing is awesome!
sw
All good points. However, throwing money at a problem never solves anything, especially in Africa. We did this in the early nineties and it made everything worse. What Africa really needs is education. Even the live eight concert was about awareness rather than aid. We are gonna spend almost 100 billion on katrina, should we send it to Africa instead? We send more money to Africa than any other nation and Bush has sent more than any other president. If you talk to the experts they say the reason Africa has so many problems is because all the educated people move to different countries leaving them with corrupt leaders who are out for themselves rather than their countries. Its a very sad situation in Africa, but stopping the war in Iraq and giving the money to africa will solve nothing. All this said, where did you get your stats? You said we are currently spending 500 million over three years. My stats tell me that including private donations the u.s. spent 48 billion in Iraq last year. I could not find an exact amount the governement gives in aid but all the figures I found were well over 3 billion a year and I know bush was asking for more.
pn
Let me clear a few things up.
Throwing money at a problem never solves anything, true, we'll never be able to pay AIDS to stop infecting people, but the education programs and awareness programs you speak of all require funding, that's just the way it is.
Africa is a horribly sad situation, AIDS is only one of many problems riddling the country. Last time I checked however, AIDS wasn't restricted to the shores of Africa, nor did I ever mean place any more emphasis on the AIDS problem in Africa than anywhere else in the world, including here in the U.S.
I'm not saying any one problem deserves any more money or attention than any other problem, I'm not even saying AIDS is the biggest problem out there, I'm actually not SAYING anything. I'm simply asking myself, why are we focusing so heavily on certain issues, and putting such little emphasis on others?
Lastly, the numbers I had were all from reliable sources. I don't really appreciate anyone second guessing that or calling me a liar. If you don't believe what I'm saying here, by all means, skip over this website, I'd rather have no readers than readers telling me what I'm writing isn't true.
I didn't mean to start a debate here, but obviously some of the readers here always know all the answers so I suppose I should have expected it. We'll save HIV/AIDS education for a different post.
-Corey
I didn't call you a liar. I asked you where you were getting your info. I asked this because I couldn't find any solid answers myself when I was doing the research. The only solid answers I could find included private donations. I never know all the answers, but 99.9% of the time I will have an opinion. Its not that I don't believe you its that I don't agree with you. I had no idea you weren't trying to start a debate. I thought you were because you have always participated in all of the other debates. Thanks for clearing that up. Sorry for interjecting my thoughts.
pn
p.s. If you don't want me to comment on your blog anymore I won't.
Hey,
Sorry for that last outburst everyone. I guess I was a little taken aback by PN's response. I didn't feel I should be questioned about the numbers I put up here, this has always been MY website, and I've always written what I want to write, if you have trouble believing any of that I suggest you don't visit this site anymore. Also, I wasn't trying to point fingers at anyone, say that anyone is doing anything wrong, or that I have the answers to save the world.
I can assure you that I'm not going to fabricate facts to post on here, I really don't think that would benefit anyone, anywhere, but I won't hesitate to write my opinions on here. I welcome other peoples opinions, but it really felt like people were putting in an effort to find holes in what I wrote, and in some sense take away from what I was trying to say. I think what I did say was taken entirely the wrong way, but oh well.
I'm not trying to scare people away from here, but I just didn't like the way I was responded too. As you all know, we all have different views and opinions, and I'm always open to discussion as to why I believe some way, what I'm not open to is someone trying to discredit me or my opinions. That being said, I really don't think 2.8 billion (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2002/11731.htm) or 3 billion dollars changes the point of that post whatsoever. I also never mentioned anything about focusing aid or attention on Africa, AIDS is a worldwide epidemic that "has already killed over half a million Americans - that's close to the number killed in ten Vietnam wars" (http://www.avert.org/aids-america.htm). I really don't feel like I should have to cite things I write on here, and I'm not going to.
I have always enjoyed a good debate, and I think some good ones have been had, but you won't find me picking holes in what you write because frankly, if I don't believe what you're saying, I don't believe you are worth discussion anything with. Thats all for now, once again, sorry if I came across as a jerk yesterday as I'm sure I did.
Euthanizer isn't a word, perhaps Euthanist would be more fitting.
-Corey
Since you didn't request me to not comment I am going to assume its ok to do so.
Thanks for the first web site, it was helpful in the fact it showed me where you were coming from. I never thought you would make up any stat. However, I did think there was a possibility you could have seen these facts on a web site like moveon.org which would make me suspicious. You proved to me that this was not the case. In fact, your web site was more credible than any I found. So seriously thanks for that. Also, I am sorry that I jumped to conclusions and thought you were advocating decreasing funding in Iraq. One of my friends died in Iraq and when I think someone is saying that we should decrease troop funding it really gets my blood flowing because I don't think the troops get nearly the support they deserve.
pn
p.s. Your right about euthanizer. Don't worry though a big event that is coming soon is going to drastically change my blog.
corey are you doing xc today and cx tomorrow??
sw
no, the races this weekend are in Albuquerque, CX starts up next weekend.
I LOVE PRESIDENT BUSH!!! WE SHOULD NUKE AFRICA!!!
-Joel Teachout
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