U.N. admits it's been overestimating AIDS epidemic for years

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

In a stunning example of how you can't believe anything that you read, the UN admits that it has been estimating that 40 million people have been infected with HIV, and now they've reduced that figure to 33 million. In fact, AIDS cases have been going down for 10 years or so and the overstatement has, according to some, been used to increase funding:

"Having millions fewer people with a lethal contagious disease is good news. Some researchers, however, contend that persistent overestimates in the widely quoted U.N. reports have long skewed funding decisions and obscured potential lessons about how to slow the spread of HIV. Critics have also said that U.N. officials overstated the extent of the epidemic to help gather political and financial support for combating AIDS.

"There was a tendency toward alarmism, and that fit perhaps a certain fundraising agenda," said Helen Epstein, author of "The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS." "I hope these new numbers will help refocus the response in a more pragmatic way."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dbermanmd @ Nov 20 2007, 07:24 AM) [snapback]541895[/snapback]</div>

It's what political organizations do, instill fear to further their own goals, to get more money and other resources. Every politician does it. Every organization does it. By keeping us in fear that the sky is falling, they keep themselves in power and in business and make lots of money. Two people come to you. One says that the world is ending, the other says that not only is the world not ending, it's even better than ever. Neither is accurate but the safe bet for any of us is to know that the truth is somewhere in the middle.