To: carranza2 who wrote (53593 ) 6/5/2011 3:23:09 PM From: elmatador Respond to of 217830 Why Brazil's response to AIDS worked. The benefit of not making money with the disease. Why Brazil's response to AIDS worked. June 04, 2011|By Eduardo J. Gómez, Special to CNN As we mark the 30th anniversary of the CDC's official reporting of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it's surprising to see which nation has fared the best in response. It's not the United States; it's not China, India, or even Russia ... It's our good friend to the south, Brazil. I first began to learn about Brazil's success as a doctoral student investigating the impact of AIDS on politics and society in the developing world. Surprised by Brazil's early response to the epidemic, especially when compared to other nations, I tossed my laptop into a backpack and set out for Brazil. After several trips to cities throughout the country, interviewing AIDS patients, health officials, and activists, it gradually became clear that the government was indeed fully committed to eradicating AIDS, in turn proving to the world that it had the technical capacity and political commitment needed to do so. As evidence of Brazil's success, consider the following. Aggressive national prevention campaigns for high-risk groups have contributed to a sharp decline of HIV/AIDS cases in Brazil. Because of the creation of national prevention programs targeting gay men and women, in 2002 and 2007, respectively, Brazil has seen a dramatic decline in HIV/AIDS cases among gay men, from 3,376 in 1996 to 647 in 2009, and among women, from 7,419 in 1996 to 2,034 in 2009. In contrast, infection among the highest at-risk groups in the United States, currently African Americans and gay men, remains elevated: in 1998, 20,672 new cases were reported among African Americans, increasing to 21,549 in 2009, while 17,357 cases were reported for gay men in 1998, falling only to 14,383 in 2009. Considering the fact that Brazil was a military dictatorship with a highly unequal distribution of health care coverage less then 20 years ago, how did it pull this off? Start by following the money trail. Brazil's allocation of congressional funding, while lower than in the United States, has risen steadily. From 2000 to 2007, the Brazilian congress nearly doubled the amount committed to fighting AIDS -- from 713,000 Brazilian reais to 1.3 billion in 2007. (A real is worth approximately 63 cents.) U.S. spending has risen at a slower rate. see following pages 123articles.cnn.com