The last day, the last month
It’s been a good four-month run, but I’ve decided to end my experiment with The Daily Monthly. There have been some tremendously satisfying moments in this process, but in the end, there were too many problems with the model to make it sustainable. Originally, I was hoping that each month’s topic would evolve into a [...]
Closing a chapter on HIV and AIDS
I end this first month of The Daily Monthly feeling tremendously fortunate. Not just because I’m healthy when so many others are not, but also because I’ve connected with some amazing individuals. I’m glad to know that there are dedicated people trying to find a cure for HIV and AIDS, and others committed to helping [...]
AIDS, stigma, and finding a cure
One of the first things Amy Brooks told me when I interviewed her about this project is that she was concerned that AIDS was becoming “just another chronic disease.” Part of the reason HIV and AIDS tend to be forgotten in the public health landscape is that they are, to an extent, manageable, just like [...]
How close are we to a cure for HIV / AIDS?
When I began work on this month’s project, I contacted a clinician, a case manager, and a scientist to get their perspectives on how we’re making progress fighting HIV and AIDS. I’ve introduced you to the clinician and the case manager, but not the scientist. Dave Wessner doesn’t actually study AIDS, but he’s written a [...]
A quick poll: Do you want to know how an individual got HIV?
I’m extremely busy today with judging the Research Blogging Awards so I won’t be able to offer a substantive post, but over the course of this month I’ve become quite curious about one thing. When you learn about someone with HIV or AIDS, do you want to know how they got it? Let’s make this [...]
A visit to an HIV clinic: Part II
“I like your watch,” pharmacist Jin Jun tells me as I’m sitting down to interview him. I have a plastic runner’s watch, nothing special, but I see Jun is wearing something similar. “Do you run?” I ask him. Jun is a tall, personable man who runs marathons, it turns out, and he enthusiastically invites me [...]
How HIV works
In order to understand how to fight HIV, you need to know how it works. As a reminder, here’s a schematic of an HIV virus from my post two weeks ago: Remember I told you the HIV virus hijacks the host cells to reproduce? Here’s how that happens. First, the GP 120 protein on the [...]
A visit to an HIV clinic: Part 1
Wednesday, February 10. I arrive at the Carolinas Medical Center Myers Park office at 7:55 a.m. A security guard informs me that the clinic doesn’t open until 8 a.m. and tells me to wait in the pharmacy. There are dozens of others in the room with me, and initially I wonder why so many folks [...]
Some thumbnail calculations about HIV/AIDS
Total number of Americans with HIV/AIDS: 1 million Annual cost of treatment: $30 billion Number of new cases per year: 50,000 Lifetime treatment costs for new cases added each year: $25 billion Annual dollars lost in productivity due to HIV/AIDS: $21 billion Annual government expenditures on HIV/AIDS prevention in US: $600 million
What will it take to change the public’s view of HIV and AIDS?
Last November, the National Football League devoted the entire month to breast cancer awareness. Players like Reggie Bush wore pink gloves, armbands, even shoes, to promote efforts to fight the disease. There were some heartwarming moments. Players brought their mothers, grandmothers, and other women who’d battled breast cancer to the games, all of them wearing [...]
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The Daily Monthly is Dave Munger's multi-layered exploration of ideas and issues affecting all of us today.
One post per day, one topic per month
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