AIDs Victims are Losers.

by Barry Artiste | December 2, 2007 at 09:10 am | 830 views | 2 comments

Carolyn Bennett and Dr. Evil separated at Birth?

by Barry Artiste

by Barry Artiste

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Opinion

Barry Artiste , Now Public Contributor

In regards to Now Publics' Editor Jordan's story on World AIDS Day yesterday.

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/world-aids-day-how-far-have-we-come

World Aids Day has seen Canadian opposition politicians overshadowing the real issues on finding a cure for AIDS in what seems to be Media Grandstanding and getting out their wagging fingers in an attempt to see who is more AIDS friendly. The Government spends 139 million on AIDS, and charges by Canadian Opposition Politician's that the Canadian Government has given $15 million of that funding to the Bill Gates Foundation, a drop in the bucket compared to what the Gates Foundation contributes. Though every little bit helps, does it really matter if an American foundation gets it when it all goes into the same "World Research Pot" in the quest to find a cure? The Loser in all this are the Victims of Aids when Politics are involved.

OTTAWA - As Ottawa marked World AIDS Day with two new appointments to the panel which advises the government on HIV/AIDS issues, Opposition Liberals accused the government of taking millions from AIDS/HIV community programs to give to American philanthropist Bill Gates.

"'They're stealing our money to give to Gates,'" said Liberal health critic Carolyn Bennett, quoting a chorus emanating from community groups who help people living with AIDS/HIV. Bennett was among a group of Liberal MPs who visited a Montreal AIDS hospice on Saturday.

Organizations that work in prevention, education and research dealing with AIDS, as well as caring for the tens of thousands of Canadians infected, charge that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is taking $15 million out of an $84-million national strategy promised by the Liberal government in 2004.

Roses are placed on the National AIDS memorial, a circle of engraved names of thousands of victims of AIDS, in Golden Gate Park on Worlds AIDS Day in San Francisco, California December 1, 2007. Around 33.2 million people are living with HIV worldwide, up from 29 million in 2001, according to UNAIDS.

Roses are placed on the National AIDS memorial, a circle of engraved names of thousands of victims of AIDS, in Golden Gate Park on Worlds AIDS Day in San Francisco, California December 1, 2007. Around 33.2 million people are living with HIV worldwide, up from 29 million in 2001, according to UNAIDS.

The money was to be distributed over five years.

Instead, $15 million is going to Ottawa's $139-million Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, which is connected to a global project spearheaded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seeking a vaccine to prevent the disease.

In an e-mail on Saturday, Clement - who appointed Dr. Brian Conway, president of the Canadian Association of HIV Research and John C. Plater, former vice-president of the Canadian Hemophilia Society to the panel - shifted the blame to Bennett.

"It was the former secretary of state for public health, Carolyn Bennett, and her Liberal colleagues who voted to slash $16 million at the Public Health Agency," in cuts announced in the 2004 and 2005 budgets, Clement said.

Bennett on Saturday said a Liberal investigation with the health agency proved otherwise.

"The tragedy is that community organizations are the ones best suited to understand the needs, because they deal directly with those affected," Bennett said.

Life expectancy in Canada for someone infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is as high as 20 years, said Jean Boulanger, president of Montreal hospice Maison Plein Coeur.

About 4,500 Canadians are infected each year.

Worldwide, about 33 million people are infected with the disease.