Geopolitics, Terror and a blow to Efforts against HIV-AIDS

The loss of researchers onboard Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17 leaves a scar on the HIV-AIDS community.

“If we can get a cold can of Coke to any part of Africa, we can certainly deliver AIDS treatment.” - Joep Lange

Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, originating from Amsterdam, was shot down over the Eastern Ukraine on Thursday, the 17th of June. The circumstances surrounding this senseless act are still murky at best. But the incident has renewed geopolitical tensions across the world and has observers on every continent wondering if we are seeing the beginning of a new era of Cold War.

Forgotten in these terrifying events is the impact of tragic personal loss. Family and loved ones from Amsterdam and from six different countries were aboard that flight. The loss I would like to highlight here was the blow that the battle against HIV-AIDS has suffered.

Every life lost onboard that flight was a massive blow to humanity, but the loss of six researchers, including Dr. Joep Lange and Dr. Jacqueline van Tongeren will be felt by the International HIV-AIDS relief community, and every patient suffering from HIV-AIDS for decades to come. All six were bound for an HIV-AIDS conference currently in session in Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Lange was the executive scientific director of the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development.  Dr. Jacqueline van Tongeren was a former HIV/AIDS clinical research nurse and worked as a communications director at the same institute in Amsterdam. Her efforts focused around bringing much needed low cost anti-HIV (antiretroviral) drugs to the poor.

Dr. Lange was a senior veteran of the fight against HIV-AIDS. His efforts strengthened Global AIDS prevention. He played a leading and organizational role in finding common goals for pharmaceutical giants, activists, governments and NGOs, not to mention patients themselves. His early work included greater understanding of the Mother to Child transmission of HIV (also called “vertical transmission”). His research showed how drugs like Nevirapine could cut the rate of vertical transmission significantly. This understanding and these treatment regimes have successfully been deployed in countries all across the world giving hope to HIV infected mothers everywhere.

I was born into a generation of people that has never known a world WITHOUT HIV. It’s a menace that terrorizes every country I know and has affected EVERYONE I know to varying degrees.

Over time, I have begun to see how global politics seem to take on a cyclical pattern. Events that are echoes of past mistakes seem to happen with stunning regularity and it seems to me that our global leadership has failed in the arena of world peace.

This failure is now directly threatening the lives of countless sufferers and at-risk HIV patients. This failure has now dimmed the hopes of battle weary researchers and clinicians alike who have dedicated their lives to the eradication of this modern day plague.