AIDS and Personal Responsibility

Top Story: Three weeks ago, my favorite sex advice column answered a reader's letter which asked what the reader should do about a good friend who is HIV positive but continues having sex with people without revealing his HIV status. In his response, columnist Dan Savage suggests dropping the friend, and goes on to propose "drug-support payments," where people who knowingly infect others with HIV are required to pay to support the cost of providing anti-retroviral medications to the people they infect, a burden which often falls onto underfunded state drug assistance programs. He went into more depth about it (as I'll let you read for yourself), and asked for readers' comments. Over the next week his column received a "shitstorm" of feedback from readers, and Dan answered their questions by going into even more depth about how the drug-support system might work. He even wrote up a supplemental issue on the topic which didn't appear with his regular syndicated column. Then last week, Savage appeared on NPR's call-in show talk of the nation, along with several AIDS public health experts to discuss the idea with listeners (If you want to listen to the show you will need realplayer or windows media player. It's around 40 minutes, but well worth it).

Personally I'm all for the idea. Human behavior change doesn't come easy, and applying negative consequences can be enough to make a difference, especially now that HIV is erroneously viewed as no longer being a serious illness. I don't see there being a strong indication that this change is likely to happen, but it should be noted that Dan Savage is the guy who turned Senator Rick Santorum into a "frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex," so I figure if anyone can bring this to the forefront, Dan can.

The Netherlands: For an unexpected bit of good news, members of the Dutch Association of Insurers are beginning to offer life insurance policies to people infected with HIV, after discovering that patients on anti-retroviral drugs are "no more of a risk factor for insurance than someone with diabetes." Previously, obtaining life insurance was virtually impossible once you were determined to be HIV positive. At this point it should only be a matter of time before insurance of this type appears in other places including the USA.

Mozambique: Mozambique is reportedly losing 150 police officers to AIDS each year, a loss which may affect its ability to serve society and fight crime. This problem is not unique to Mozambique: Last yearI reported that more than 1% of police in Mumbai, India are believed to be infected with HIV. This all becomes even more alarming when there are reports that police officers and other authority figures have been identified as using their authority to coerce others into unsafe sex.

USA: To change things up a bit, if you're in the mood for a real tug-at-your-heartstrings kind of AIDS story, read about B.J., a 14 year old boy whose deadbeat father infected him with HIV just before his first birthday, who is now attempting to lobby congress for increased AIDS funding. It brought a tear to my eye.

Stay safe