Balancing optimism and realism in battle against HIV/AIDS

In his monthly column "Pulling It Together," Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman discusses a recent conversation between The Daily Show host Jon Stewart and U2 lead singer Bono that "captures the tension between the opportunity for new optimism and the continuing need for realism about the AIDS epidemic." He writes, "It is important to be both hopeful and realistic because while we can aspire to fulfill the promise of recent scientific advances, over-promising could backfire with the public when nations do not put up new resources and hoped for results are not there." Altman concludes, "New money for HIV/AIDS will make a difference and save many more lives. When it comes to marshaling critical support for funding that is the most important message the public needs to hear" (December 2011).

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This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.