Now that the parties are over ...

The Democratic Convention has come and gone and, as of this writing, the Republican Convention is drawing to a close. To the delight of some and the regret of others, there were no big surprises. Each party got its nominee and so the race for president of the U.S. continues. But now that the conventions are over, and President Bush counts down the days until he moves out of the White House, perhaps one might reflect on what America has done during these last eight years to make life better -- to make the world a better place. In addition to continuing to fight the war on terror and scouring the hills, oceans and valleys desperately looking for new sources of oil -- what has this nation done for the poor?

Nearly six years ago, President Bush vowed to "turn the tide against AIDS" in Africa. With his words, the U.S. invested $15 billion to help extend the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and eased the sense of certain doom once experienced by millions of others. In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush promised to prevent 7 million new infections while treating at least 2 million people with antiretroviral drugs.

"I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa .... This nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of nature," he said.

But in the worst-hit areas, situated mainly on Africa's southern tip, the tide has not turned. The epidemic continues to spread at a horrible pace showing little sign of easing. Research shows that people are contracting HIV much faster than sick ones can be put on crucial antiretroviral drugs.

The President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, has not found a way to prevent a significant number of the estimated 1.7 million new cases of HIV each year in Africa. Nearly half of today's 15-year-olds in South Africa, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the program, will contract the virus in their lifetimes at current infection rates. Without a doubt, the AIDS crisis -- in Africa and elsewhere throughout the world -- will take much more than money to stop or even control. It may take a complete change of lifestyle for everyone involved ... complex changes in worldview and even in culture.

“Too bad,” someone remarked, “giving money is so much easier.”