Singing Loudly

John Kerry is currently giving a speech to the NAACP. One thing that he says is that he wants to double the amount of money spent on fighting AIDs. He points out that fighting AIDs will make us safer and is a great moral obligation.

One thing that he didn't point out is also that economically it will help America if AIDs were not an epidemic in third world countries. It is a bane on the economy of societies when so much of their population is sick.

The reason AIDs has become such an epidemic is primarily twofold: testing and education. First, testing for AIDs is very costly and in remote regions almost impractical. Second, education about what AIDs is and how it is spread is very difficult to teach in cultures where illnesses aren't from things like sex but from sin.

There has been good news about testing. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a toaster sized test kit. This is a mobile kit that measures the level of CD4 cells within 15 minutes and works off rechargeable batteries.

Previously Doctors couldn't use CD4 monitoring because it required machines the size of refrigerators that cost more than $75,000. This machine will cost about $1000 and each test around $5. No longer will doctors have to wait for blood tests that sometimes take months to return. By that point someone who is infected could be past the point of effective treatment, infected other, or both.

This news should help Kerry and other global leaders in their fight against the spread of AIDs.