VICE Mag Interview With Epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani
[President Bush] was under a lot of pressure from the so-called “Christian Right”. This has always been a source of curiosity to me. I’ve never been able to understand that Christian thinking that somehow equates compassion with redemption. They think, “As long as it’s about innocents—mothers, victims, children, and people who have already been afflicted with something—then we’ll help them.” Once you’ve already got HIV, they will dig into their pockets and put money on the table for very expensive U.S.-manufactured medications to help you out. But they won’t dig their hands into their pockets for clean needles or condoms that will stop you from getting infected in the first place. That’s not compassionate.
From a VICE Magazine interview with epidemiologist Elizabeth Pisani discussing how initially ignoring stigmatized populations (prostitutes, gay men, and injection drug users) allowed HIV to spread into the pandemic it is today.
photo from a Guardian.co.uk story on Pisani
Tags: Elizabeth Pisani
