Nished.That surely risks being so if,as is devoutly to be hoped,the AIDS epidemic now ravaging the world is brought under control by treating those who are infected.The reason is that AIDS drugs do not cure;they merely hold the virus at bay.Withdraw them and viruses will emerge from hiding places in the body that drugs cannot reach.Treat someone for AIDS,then,and you take on a responsibility that ends only at death.Until recently,that did not matter.The bulk of those in treatment were in rich countries.People in the rich world are used to forking out for those of their fellow citizens who have incurable conditions.Yet as anti-AIDS drugs are distributed in large numbers in countries where taxpayers cannot afford them,that calculus changes.The intention,loudly proclaimed by the G8 meeting in Scotland last year,is that drug treatment should be available by the end of the decade to all who need it.Even if that deadline is missed(and it probably will be),millions of poor people will be on the drugs by then.
展开▼
