World AIDS Day

After more than twenty five years of HIV/AIDS in Africa, the distressing news is that the picture is not getting any better. True, thousands of people carrying the infection have had their lives prolonged through antiretroviral therapies that became available to the masses about five years ago. But alas, the rate of new infections in southern African countries — including Kenya — outstrips the numbers who are getting ART. Prevention is still not working. This week, MACLEAN’S magazine — on the occasion of World AIDS Day 2010 — will carry my article with this bleak message.

I’ve stayed in touch with the arc of the AIDS epidemic in Africa through research for the new book detailing the story of the University of Manitoba scientists who have been active in Nairobi since 1980. The manuscript is now finished and at UofM Press, and hopefully the book will be out by the end of next year -2011. Working title: At The Epicentre of AIDS; How International Scientists Occupied Ground Zero in Africa’s Epidemic.