Update from Africa
I wanted to take a very quick break from my travels to pass on some thoughts about two big global challenges which need to be on our minds: HIV/AIDS and climate change.
This week, Teresa and I experienced an up close and personal reminder of how far the world has yet to travel to defeat HIV/AIDS.
Talking with people in poverty stricken KwaNgcolosi near Hillcrest in Durban, South Africa, we saw both the most inspiring and the most heartbreaking realities of a global struggle to defeat a global scourge.
We met orphaned children left with no choice but to assume adult responsibilities, caring for their young brothers and sisters. We met single mothers scratching out subsistence in mud houses, their husbands lost to a horrific disease.
I have to tell you, experiences like this have an impact on you.
I didn’t want to wait until I got back to the United States to say something about it here, because today is World AIDS Day.
And it needs to be a day of action.
Challenge Washington to stop blocking better educational efforts and stop putting ideology before science.
Demand that American leadership help convince nations like South Africa not to repeat our shameful denial of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s – and to commit their countries to saving lives not saving face.
There is no fixing a problem political leaders refuse to admit exists.
There’s something else – and I’ll have much more to say about this when I’m back – I’ll be leading, with Senator Barbara Boxer, a Senate delegation to Bali in December to the global conference where work will start on a new international climate change treaty.
We can’t wait until we have a new president; we need to get moving now.
The world simply can’t solve these problems without American participation and leadership.
Bottom line: These are the huge global issues that demand that America be America again, and that we lead by example – and that we lead now.
World Aids Day is focused around the 2005-2007 message, "Stop Aids, Keep the Promise".
"Keeping the Promise" is an easy thing to say, but a harder thing concept to live up to. It's not enough to make a commitment, you have to follow through.
From the World Aids Campaign website, it's noted that in June 2001 at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, 189 countries agreed to the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, which outlines a comprehensive response to the epidemic.
The challenge is in making sure that promise and others are fulfilled.
According to the World Aids Campaign, "Over 25 million people have been lost to AIDS so far, and 4.3 million people were infected with HIV 2006. The spread of HIV is quickening – with more people infected in 2006 than in any previous year."
Like the rapidly-accelerating issues of climate change, the spreading scourge of HIV/AIDS is not just a regional problem. It's not just something that happens to other people in other places. It's a global problem that affects all of us, everywhere.
And that means that all of us have to work together to keep the promise – not just "over there," but here at home as well.
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Hi John
My wife and I were staying at Cape Grace hotel, Capetown in November. We bumped into you in the lift and saw you in the hotel a couple of times. We both recognised you but no name came to mind. First we thought you were an actor. Then my Wife said no, he is a politician. Thanks to Google she has been proved right. Good luck with efforts in Africa regarding HIV.
Best wishes
Phil & Myrtle Coverdale
from England.
ps. If we had been American we would no doubt have recognised you instantly.