BOB LEAHY ON THE FUTURE ROLE OF BIOMEDICAL SOLUTIONS, NOTABLY TREATMENT AS PREVENTION, IN IMPROVING THE HEALTH OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV AND IN HELPING PUT AN END TO THE EPIDEMIC.
We’ve been charged today with looking ahead and I’m going to do that, but I think it’s also important to frame that look ahead in terms of where we’ve come from and our own personal journeys.
So . . I need to state up front that for many years I’ve been an activist and while doing that work – it was one of my pet causes – I was an opponent of treatment as prevention. I didn’t like what I perceived as its emphasis on public health over personal health. I didn’t like the ethical issues it raised. I didn’t like the idea of starting treatment earlier than we had to. I was troubled by the notion of informed consent and how best to make sure that it happened. I didn’t like the prospect of side effects from taking what seemed like unnecessary medication when you could easily wait until it was absolutely needed. So I didn’t like the notion of treatment as prevention at all.
Bob Leahy – Editor
Positive Lite
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