"HIV positive man sitting at home before taking his anti-retroviral (ARVs) medicines, Cambodia." Credit: UNAIDS/O. O’Hanlo (2)
This afternoon I made a short little jaunt to the bookstore, really only hoping to find some periodicals that were 1) interesting enough to fill my lunch hour and 2) willing to be sacrificed as I really planned to cut them to bits for some future projects. Now, I am all for recycling used magazines, but my stockpile is running a little low. Regardless, I was quite pleased to find that Vanity Fair is doing a special issue on Africa. This edition is edited by Bono and others such as, oh, Desmond Tutu, Oprah, Bill and Melinda Gates, Muhammad Ali, Barack Obama, Maya Angelou--you get the idea.
I've yet to really delve into the entire thing, but I did read the article on (Product) Red called "The Lazarus Effect". I was really thankful for an article that put the need for ARVs in such simple, easily understandable terms. I was aware that ARVs (anti-retroviral drugs) are the ultimate necessity if anything is to be done at all to treat those already infected. I had no idea, however, just how fast they can work. There have been patients, it seems, that see unbelievable results after only 40 days of ARV treatment. Some even improve from being critically ill to "vibrant normalcy in just three months" (1).
And each pill is only 20 cents.
Now, certainly not everyone has such amazing results. And, yes, while each pill is only 20 cents--it's really 20 cents times _____ -- well, a lot. So much that it is still very much a crisis. But it seems as though there is a little light shining at the end, and I am encouraged by that. And if me buying a t-shirt or picking the red i-pod over the pink one is going to make a difference, then I'm all for that.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend, father's day (if applicable) and that Monday wasn't too bad. All three were actually quite nice on my end.
xo,
Amy
Citations, should you want them:
1. Vanity Fair Special Issue: Africa July 2007 -- "The Lazarus Effect" article by Alex Shoumatoff p.156
2. UNAIDS Epidemic Update 2006 - Press Photographs
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