What's the point in giving money to people with AIDS?

theres no cure right? so the meds will make them live longer, but they will die anyway. idk much about aids, so i'm sorry if i'm being stupid.

i'm saying aids patients are going to die unusually EARLY anyway. people with blood pressure, if they take medicine, have a much larger chance of living a average life span that an aids patient taking their medicine.

I think that your assumptions about the life expectancy of HIV+ folks may be outdated.

I don't have statistics, but I'm not sure that your comment about blood pressure meds being more effective than HIV meds is correct. It's an interesting question, actually.

If we are going to play the balancing act of "Which People are More Deserving of Expensive Medicine," then we need to take a bunch of factors into account. How many high blood pressure patients are still raising young children? Many HIV+ folks are. In fact, some HIV+ folks are children themselves.

Determining who is most worthy of monitary donations is a very hard call - I know. Do we give to animal protection funds when we still have hungry people? Do we give to starving people abroad, or sick people in the US?

So everyone makes their own decision, based on their own life, and values and experiences. And lots of folks feel that HIV / AIDS charities are a worthy cause.

Good question.

i know three people who have survived for more than 15 years and were told by doctors that they were probably going to die of something completely unrelated.

living long enough to see your grandchildren born and start school means alot to many people.

living long enough to watch your little brother get married means alot.

living long enough to start kindergarten is priceless, so is living long enough to watch your child start kindergarten

everybody will die anyway, so by your logic we shouldn't treat any medical condition that can shorten life expectancy. (are you or your parents on blood pressure medicine? if so, why are you wasting the money when you're just going to die anyway?)

with proper medication AIDS patients are not ussually going to die all that early. ten years ago a friend had 14 T cells, he got on medication and is now perfectly healthy at almost 60 years old (still HIV+, but has never missed a day of work). these are people. without treatment they'll ussually die quickly, but with proper care there is no reason why they should not expect a normal life time.

AIDS has changed dramatically from when it was first recognized. With proper medical treatment, it is now much more like any other chronic disease. I have worked with AIDS patients for many years and when I first started working with them it was unusual for a patients to be around just one or two years after he developed full blown AIDS. Now, they are living a relatively health life for years.

What's the point? You can live your entire life with HIV/AIDS, with proper medical treatment. The point is people can live otherwise long and fullfilling lives, and contribute to society while they live them. You should really ask people who have been told they will die soon, if taking the meds and spending the money is worth being able to live even a day or a minute longer. They could give you many reasons.

If we follow the logic of your statement then why give money and services to people with diabetes as well. Both HIV and Diabetes are chronic manageable diseases. As some one in the field of HIV education, prevention, and testing I find your strange logic barbaric.

People on HIV meds are living 25 years or more, One of the major medical journals has just stated that someone who tests HIV+ now will have a chance to live 30+ years.

There are no guarantees in life, should people who have cancer be denied medication since they are going to die?
What about people who need organ transplants?

The point is that they still have to live no matter what they eventually die from we all have to go sometime but they still have to pay bills and live in the meantime and why look at it like a death sentence? They are still human no matter what they have. Read up on Aides and you will learn about it.Technology has come a long way.