Gains slip away in AIDS work

I have a piece in today's Ottawa Citizen to coincide with today being World AIDS Day.  It was a somewhat difficult piece to write given that there was just so much information to cram into a mere 750 words, and getting useful information from government sources, as opposed to talking points, was a bit of challenge as well.

One paragraph in particular wound up on the cutting room floor, which I think summed much of the piece up quite well:

“If you liken the HIV/AIDS epidemic to a forest fire, and you have the resources to give us a plane full of water, why are you giving us a thimble-full in the first year?” Koornstra asks. “A thimble-full is not going to put out the fire – the fire is going to grow larger, and when you feel like you might need to give us a few more resources, you give us a cup of water as opposed to the amount of water that we needed to put out the fire in the first place.”

I do wish that it had managed to be included, but I am glad that the piece made it.

The piece can be found in the print edition on page C3, or in the online edition here.