The first cases of what would become known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) that starts as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) were reported in 1981 mostly among a population of men having sex with men in the United States of America (USA).
The USA has done a commendable job as the biggest funder of the global response to fight the HIV and AIDS pandemic that has killed millions of lives. As of 2018, about 37.9 million people were infected with HIV, the medical condition that leads to AIDS that though is treatable with a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs but it has no known cure.
Though the first cases of HIV and AIDS among humans are said to have started in the USA, sub-Saharan Africa to this day has become the epicentre of HIV and AIDS cases. Successive American administrations have done a commendable job through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which through the years has provided billions of American dollars in annual funding and technical support for antiretroviral treatment, HIV prevention and other efforts to prevent HIV.
Africa possibly bears the brunt of HIV and AIDS, because of its underdeveloped health systems, dilapidated health infrastructure, lack of research and inherently the traditional sex practices of having too many sex partners among men, coupled with ignorance and the slowness in the free flow of information.
In the early stages of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was one of the leading organisations in the international response to the HIV and AIDS now classified as an epidemic by some health gurus.
Before global health interventions such as providing cheaper condoms and compelling pharmaceutical companies to make the price of antiretroviral drugs -saving millions in the process, millions died like flies from what was called the “wasting” sickness that widowed, orphaned millions causing untold misery.
African, European, Asians and other countries accepted what had happened at the peak of HIV and AIDS. There was global solidarity and it paid huge dividends saving millions of lives that are now reliant on life-saving medical interventions. There was no apportioning of blame on America for having somehow originated HIV and AIDS.
No one to this day has demanded reparations from America because this will set a very bad precedence and has the potential to strain the already delicate global relations between nations. In this vein, we humbly call on America as one of the superpowers to find a vaccine and eventually a cure for coronavirus.
Because demanding reparations from China amounts to latent racism and is unfair.
We should accept the fact we live in a globalised world and when one country sneezes, this could result in a global chain reaction expedited by air travel and global inter-connectivity. We should be cognisant of the fact countries trade with each other and businesses or bigger organisations develop international influence or start to operate on an international scale as they expand.
That said, no country can exist in a vacuum, condemning globalisation will only lead to populist politics and will not lift the billions out of poverty and countries should not malign each other whenever there is a crisis but should work together in unity.