Posted July 12, 2003:
Disease funding should reflect number of sufferers - Opinion, The Desert Sun - July 10, 2003 - http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2003/opinion/20030710022501.shtml
AIDS Popularity Leads to Unfair Disease Funding
Dr. Richard Darling
In the race against curing diseases, is it a popularity contest? If you take a look at the funding distributions of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), you'd probably say "without question."
Whether you or a loved one have been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease or not, one can hardly ignore the staggering statistics on disease funding by the NIH. Almost 2.8 billion dollars are going to AIDS research in 2003, while 16 other diseases - which kill many thousands more Americans than AIDS yearly - are only receiving a small fraction of the government's dollars.
AIDS has become the "in" disease. Support among the Hollywood elite, politicians and the wealthy has become almost a fad.
The AIDS activists don't want you to know their disease is no longer epidemic in the USA and they continue to press for more funding - and to their credit, their efforts have accomplished phenomenal feats in the fight against AIDS. Just look at the numbers - deaths from AIDS have plummeted 72% in the USA since 1995. That's why it's time to redirect funding to diseases that are more deserving and currently receiving millions, or even billions, less than AIDS.
For example, diabetes kills more Americans than AIDS and breast cancer combined, yet the NIH is spending $5,500 on every patient identified as having AIDS while spending $70 on each diabetic. And heart disease - which strikes over 700,000 yearly compared to 14,132 from AIDS - receives almost ¾ of a Billion dollars less than AIDS.
Funding needs to be fair and equitable for all diseases. The NIH must look at prorating funds based on a disease's mortality rate, and as a secondary factor, degree of suffering. The disease that kills the most Americans should get the most research funding, and so on.
This issue is especially sensitive in our country, which is very tuned into the world of AIDS. But when the AIDS death rate in newly infected patients has dropped 97% in the state of California, it's time to start congratulating AIDS organizations for their successes while shifting research dollars from AIDS to diseases like lung disease, prostate disease, Alzheimer's Disease, brain disease and diabetes.
To view a list of the 16 diseases that kill more Americans than AIDS, go to www.ProrateNIH.com