Rome, May 16, 2011. We have learned that a self-styled "independent group of Italian activists, doctors, and researchers" will meet today in Bari under the title "AIDS and HIV: Everything They Didn't Tell You." The conference will focus on the following: that HIV is a fabrication and not a viral disease that can lead to AIDS, that treatments are a scam, and that prevention is useless.
These are the so-called denialist theories that cyclically resurface despite the undeniable evidence of the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapies for over a decade, evidence that can simply be measured in terms of human lives saved in Italy and around the world. These are old, well-known theories, but they have never been supported by scientific evidence or subjected to revision, much less presented to AIDS organizations.
The direct correlation between the spread of treatment and the decline in HIV infections and AIDS deaths is widely documented and shared by the scientific community, patient and activist associations, and international organizations. But for the deniers gathering in Bari, these arguments are merely "prejudices and taboos that still grip society," which they obviously intend to "shed light on," propagated by organizations dedicated to informing the public only of "speculative pharmacological and media realities." These are serious accusations.
Conspiracy theories may have a certain appeal, even appealing to the media, but when they result in thousands of deaths, one should proceed with caution. In South Africa, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health states that from 2000 to 2005, denialism, which led to the withholding of drugs and the total absence of preventive health policies, resulted in the deaths of 300,000 people, the birth of 25,000 children with HIV, and a huge number of orphans. That said, we first express our grave concern for people with HIV/AIDS, who—if already struggling with living with HIV and all that this entails in terms of stigma and relational and medical difficulties—could become fascinated or drawn into it and thus follow them, with all the resulting consequences for personal and public health.
Only yesterday, Doctors Without Borders presented its report, "Getting Ahead of the Wave," on the current state of the availability of lifesaving HIV/AIDS drugs and the outlook for the next decade. This report draws on the World Health Organization's guidelines for the administration of treatment. The UN will meet in New York in July for a High-Level Meeting on perspectives and tools in the global fight against AIDS. That same month, the International AIDS Society (IAS) World Conference will be held in Rome, actively organized by our National Institute of Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità). The conference will be preceded on July 12 by the Forum of Italian AIDS Associations and Organizations, marking the thirtieth anniversary of the outbreak of the epidemic.
The fight against AIDS is a crucial global commitment, included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also established by the UN, for which the commitment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis is essential. This is the same Fund to which Italy, despite promises, has not contributed a single euro since 2008, and to which it has made no future commitments, the only G8 country to do so.
The fight against AIDS is a shared commitment across various institutional and non-institutional forums. It proceeds through ongoing discussion and debate, avoids prejudicial positions, and relies on evidence, not prejudice. We are aware of all the interests and challenges that accompany this fight, but precisely for this reason we do not accept lessons in independence from those who place themselves outside this debate and make accusations they would do well to document.
We urge Italian healthcare institutions, universities, and the scientific community to monitor and, if necessary, counter denialist theories. We can no longer accept that the global and shared, effective and transparent strategy to fight AIDS, supported by long-standing scientific evidence, can be challenged by fanciful conspiracy theories.