Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report Summarizes Editorials, Opinion Pieces on the XV International AIDS Conference

Several newspapers have published editorials in response to the XV International AIDS Conference taking place this week in Bangkok, Thailand. Summaries of some of the editorials and opinion pieces appear below:
Editorials

• Arizona Republic: Because HIV/AIDS is increasingly affecting women, there needs to be a "coordinated push" to develop and test microbicides so that women can protect themselves against the virus, a Republic editorial says (Arizona Republic, 7/14).
  
• Financial Times: Advocates "must remember" that financial aid is not the only factor in combating HIV/AIDS and issues such as poverty, a Times editorial says. Improved governance and free trade are more important to encouraging growth and reducing poverty, the editorial concludes (Financial Times, 7/14).
  
• Thailand's Nation: There is no reason that the need for affordable HIV/AIDS drugs in developing countries and pharmaceutical companies' need for "sufficiently attractive" financial returns "remain mutually exclusive," a Nation editorial says. Both sides should "learn to accommodate one another's needs and concerns," the editorial concludes (Nation, 7/14).
  
• New York Times: The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia is at a "tipping point," and the world -- especially Asian nations -- must increase access to antiretroviral drugs, prevention efforts and funding for global HIV/AIDS initiatives, a Times editorial says (New York Times, 7/14).
  
• Wall Street Journal: Although HIV/AIDS advocates "insist on condoms for supposedly non-infectious sexual trysts," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni spoke of "love and commitment" at the conference when he said abstinence is the best way to prevent HIV/AIDS -- a method that has proved successful in reducing the country's prevalence rate, a Journal editorial says (Wall Street Journal, 7/14).
  
• Wichita Eagle: Although much progress has been made in the global effort to combat HIV/AIDS, "much more remains to be done," an Eagle editorial says. The conference is an opportunity to build on that success, and it would be a "terrible waste if it gets bogged down in finger-pointing," the editorial concludes (Wichita Eagle, 7/13).
  
Opinion Pieces

• Phil DiSorbo, Albany Times Union: With the global HIV/AIDS epidemic "worse[ning]," the U.S. public needs to become more personally active in the global effort to combat the disease, Times Union columnist DiSorbo writes in an opinion piece (DiSorbo, Albany Times Union, 7/14).
  
• Joseph Dolman, Long Island Newsday: When Museveni on Tuesday said that abstinence is the best way to prevent HIV, "it seems logical" that he did so to stay "on the good side of [President] Bush" for financial reasons, Newsday columnist Dolman writes in an opinion piece. Prevention methods were not "faring all that well" before Museveni's remarks, and they are now "weaker still," Dolman concludes (Dolman, Long Island Newsday, 7/14).
  
• James Glassman, Manchester Union Leader: The United States is providing funding for and access to drugs, health care facilities and training for health care workers to fight AIDS, Glassman, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, writes in a Union Leader opinion piece. The United States should not attend the next conference in 2006 to "fend off insults from ingrates and morons," Glassman concludes (Glassman, Manchester Union Leader, 714).
  
• Yoweri Museveni, Asian Wall Street Journal: Individual behavior change and personal responsibility -- based on knowledge -- offer the "best protection against AIDS and other future epidemics," Museveni writes in a Journal opinion piece (Museveni, Asian Wall Street Journal, 7/14).