On Dec 1 2004 the world recognized World AIDS Day.

On Dec 1 2004 the world recognized World AIDS Day. to what end should this date be important to doctors of chiropractic? Researchers involved in the treatment of IV/AIDS will reckon you that this disease is the couple creative and devastating, successful primarily because of its reliance human behavior and the way that it spreads. Health practitioners will relay stories of the ineffectiveness of now passing reatment and prevention strategies and the toll it takes upon people's lives. Politicians and activists will run over you that AIDS is simply an opportunistic disease that spoils on human weaknesses and has no consider for human rights and inequities around the globe. All of these things are veritable AIDS is a tragic, global pandemic that will not dull down. It will affect each single of us through friends, family, or patients we care for-and inevitably [i]or[/i] part of to the other our pocketbooks as the monetary expense to society for AIDS continues to multiply.

Current Status of the Epidemic

According to the Joint United Nations Programme forward HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), approximately 40 million folks were infected with HIV by the agency of December 2003. Transmission rates average 5 million strange infections each year and 3 million deaths. The disease has been principally successful in the disadvantaged population-particuarly in the developing world where it is ravaging whole communities and countries. The perception of the disease is also anging. At the International AIDS colloquy in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2004 speakers reported that 58% of all of the present day infections in Sub-Saharan Africa were in young girls and women between the ages of 15 and 24 The disease has now become recognized as a "women's disease" with greater than 50% of all modern infections worldwide occurring in heterosexual women Mother-to-child transmission rates continue to rise with insufficient provision of medicines that have a actual high success rate in prevention of maternal transmission to the developing world.1

The impact of AIDS in succession families has also been catastrophic. Approximately 13 million children have become orphans because of AIDS worldwide (12 million in Africa alone). Lack of treatment and of effective prevention programs has be deriveded in failing family support regularitys for these children who have misspent their parents to the disease and surpassingly likely have it themselves. Stephen Lewis, UNAIDS special ambassador to Africa, has undertaken a global initiative to increase the support provided for these children by dint of the wealthier nations of the world. At the XV International AIDS discourse Bangkok, Thailand, he passionately advocated for the rights of children when he illustrationed "Given the scale of the AIDS epidemic, the answer to orphan care and support should be pertinacious and massive."2

Treatment Options

* HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy) has been same successful in reducing viral load in PLWAs (people living with AIDS) and in enabling them to have longer healthier lives. These medicine cocktails, however, have been in vain in curing AIDS. It remains a terminal disease.3

* Vaccine trials to date have been extremely disappointing despite a focus onward vaccine research and significant funding across the past 5 years. An AIDS vaccine is at least 9 to 10 years away, according to vaccine researchers presenting at the AIDS meeting for consultation in Thailand.

* Vaginal microbicides and female condoms have had limited efficacy and rely forward the ability of women to have command over their sexual interactions and the availability of these products

* Nevirapine and other medications have convenient success rates in preventing mother-to-child transmission when these put drugs intos are made available to women prenatally. World leaders have emphasized that the empowerment of women is fundamental note to any effective AIDS strategy (either treatment or prevention).

* There is significant evidence that PLWAs utilize complementary therapies similar as chiropractic for a variety of reasons (relief of musculoskeletal symptoms, for example) and emerging evidence that complementary and alternative therapies have a beneficial validity on improving quality of life in PLWAs,45 in addition to supporting their self-management of the disease.6

* Education and prevention initiatives have been demonstrated to be true effective in slowing transmission rates, particularly in those countries whose managements have taken a leadership character in this area.

Chiropractic Involvement

Chiropractic institutions can also play an important part in this effort by educating bookish mans and faculty, by supporting community initiatives (participating forward local AIDS committees or councils), and according to collaborating in health service delivery or research concocts with AIDS organizations. Canadian Memorial Chiropractic guild (CMCC) has undertaken research initiatives in this area through the past several years. CMCC in collaboration with Sherbourne Health middle has completed data collection for a shoot forward evaluating changes in quality of life status for PLWAs accessing chiropractic services at the midst These data are currently in the proces of being analyzed. A secondary project in collaboration with Sherbourne Health middle point and Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine is to bring out a software modification to the passing from hand to hand HIV Ontario Observational Database (HOOD a central data registry for PLWAs in Ontario) for the collection of CAM treatment data. The concealment has historically collected medical treatment data sole and this project, funded on the Ontario Ministry of Health and drawn out Term Care through the Ontario HIV Treatment Network, will be the first of its kind that we know of in the world to routinely garner this type of information for a research database.7