Solidarity and AIDS: introduction

Abstract

Perhaps more than any other disease in recent history, AIDS has taught a cruel and crucial lesson: the constraints on our response to this epidemic are as deep as our denial, as entrenched as the inequities that permeate our society, as circumscribed as our knowledge, and as unlimited as our compassion and our commitment to human rights. Elaborating on these themes, the final three articles in this Special Section on AIDS consider three widely divergent yet intimately connected topics: AIDS in Cuba, AIDS in Brazil, and global AIDS prevention in the 1990s. Together, they caution that if we persist in treating AIDS as a problem only of "others," no country will be spared the social and economic devastation that promises to be the cost of our contempt and our folly. Solidarity is not an option; it is a necessity. Without conscious recognition of the worldwide relationship between health, human rights, and social inequalities, our attempts to abate the spread of AIDS--and to ease the suffering that follows in its wake--most surely will fall short of our goals. Finally, as we mourn our dead, we must take to heart the words of Mother Jones, and "fight like hell for living." This is the politics of survival.

PIP: This article asks the reader to carefully consider the personal implications of AIDS were either he or close friends and relatives afflicted with the syndrome. We are urged to acknowledge the limited capabilities of personal and social response to the epidemic, and recognize the associated degree of social inequity and knowledge deficiency which exists. Summaries of 3 articles are discussed as highly integrated in their common call for global solidarity in the fight against HIV infections and AIDS. Pros and cons of Cuba's evolving response to AIDS are considered, paying attention to the country's recent abandonment of health policy which isolated those infected with HIV, in favor of renewed social integration of these individuals. Brazil's inadequate, untimely, and erred response to AIDS is then strongly criticized in the 2nd article summary. Finally, the 3rd article by Dr. Jonathan Mann, former head of the World Health Organization's Global program on AIDS, on AIDS prevention in the 1990s is discussed. Covering behavioral change and the critical role of political factors in AIDS prevention, Mann asserts the need to apply current concepts and strategies, while developing new ones, and to reassess values and concepts guiding work in the field. AIDS and its associated crises threaten the survival of humanity. It is not just a disease to be solved by information, but is intimately linked to issues of sexuality, health, and human behavior which are in turn shaped by social, political, economic, and cultural factors. Strong, concerted political resolve is essential in developing, implementing, and sustaining an action agenda against AIDS set by people with AIDS and those at risk of infection. Vision, resources, and leadership are called for in this war closely linked to the struggle for worldwide social justice.