Climate change may be the latest obstacle in the fight against HIV/AIDS, indirectly making people in developing countries more vulnerable to infection, Australian news website The Age reports (news.theage.com.au, 4/29).
In addition, researchers note that people already living with the virus may become more susceptible to opportunistic infections resulting from shifting climates.
“Climate change will lead to food scarcity and poorer nutrition, putting people with perilous immune systems at more risk of dying of HIV, as well as contracting and transmitting new and unusual infections,” said Professor David Cooper, director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research.
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Chris Camp, Baltimore, 2008-05-01 10:17:14
Global Warming is impacting the poor more than any others. Systems strained to the breaking point - clean water, supplies of food and meds, effective sanitation, will continue to skyrocket in cost and decline in both quantity and quality. Energy for cooling, heating and travel will be further depleted. Neighbor will fight neighbor for control of basic necessities of life. Citizens of Earth will be challenged to help or face dire consequences - what happens to one of us happens to all of us.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I think that it's OK to be angry. I am sometimes—it's natural—we are HIV positive. but I always try to not let myself stay there too long. Let yourself feel you are human. You should not beat yourself up about being angry."
