TACOMA, Washington — Recently, The Borgen Project sat down with Dr. Joseph Hogan, a professor of biostatistics at Brown University. Hogan is an HIV and AIDS researcher and is currently working on a pooled testing initiative for HIV/AIDS, which is a cheaper, and more effective way to test for the disease in countries such as Kenya. Since 2010, there has been a 55% decrease in HIV/AIDS-related deaths in Kenya and pooled testing has promising results for an increase in diagnoses.
How HIV and AIDS Affect Global Poverty
Poverty worsens any health condition due to the lack of access to healthcare, little to no education about diseases and no money for transportation. Healthcare systems can provide healthcare benefits such as access to medicine and regular doctor appointments. Without this, it is expensive, and difficult to receive diagnoses and treatment from professionals. Furthermore, the lack of education about the diseases’ contagious nature contributes to the growing rates of HIV and AIDS. Finally, transportation alone presents obstacles, even if the patient has already been diagnosed. “The bigger issue we see at clinics is access to reliable transportation. When you don’t have money, you don’t have access to transportation which is really important,” said Dr. Joseph Hogan. Even in areas with provided medication, a task as simple as getting to the doctor’s office creates difficulties for many.
What is Pooled Testing?
Pooled testing for HIV/AIDS is a proposed method to screen blood for disease, or in the case of HIV, viral loads. Viral loads are a value that determines whether or not treatment is working for a patient who has already been diagnosed. Since it is expensive to test each blood sample individually, pooled testing combines blood samples, and then tests the pool for a viral load value. Depending on the produced value, the blood sample may be further screened in smaller batches to determine whose blood sample has high viral load values.
Why is Pooled Testing for HIV/AIDS Important?
Testing blood samples is extremely expensive, and requires advanced lab technology, which is hard to access in generally low-income countries like Kenya. Furthermore, testing individual samples takes significant amounts of time and resources.
However, by using pooled testing for HIV/AIDS, more Kenyans can have their blood sample results quickly, and it significantly reduces costs, therefore increasing access. Pooled testing can also increase the number of times a person is tested for viral load in a year. These diseases are substantially more prevalent in countries with poor healthcare systems, and by using pooled testing for HIV/AIDS, the death rate and infection rate can decrease, benefiting countries globally.
How Does the United States’s Involvement Affect Pooled Testing?
Pooled testing for HIV/AIDS may not seem like an issue for the United States; however, federal funding for research is critical to ensuring that HIV/AIDS does not become a worldwide pandemic. The National Institute of Health (NIH) funds Dr. Hogan’s research, and its budget faces a 7% cut if the 2021 Fiscal Year Budget passes.
When asked, Dr. Hogan said that funding these programs is a significant issue for Americans as “to cut money to the NIH is to cut money to American people’s livelihoods.” Furthermore, Hogan’s research relies upon multiple grants of about $200,000 to $300,000 per year, which provides for a research team and equipment. If the National Institute of Health faces cuts, grants are the first to go. Consequently, the budget cut eliminates research that is vital to supporting people who cannot usually seek out treatment for HIV and AIDS.
Preventing an AIDS Outbreak and Ensuring a Healthy Global Community
As shown by the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the United States in 2020, diseases do not stay within a country. AIDS and HIV are no different. If these diseases spiral out of control in Kenya, the United States is at risk for an AIDS outbreak. In the interview with Dr. Hogan, he stated that there is a substantial political and health advantage that comes with the United States’s investment in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. “Disease spread leads to all kinds of problems,” explained Dr. Hogan, “I think we all know what happens when there are massive social upheavals within Africa or India.”
Not only does social upheaval worsen poverty conditions, but it does not remain within the confines of a country. Unrest in countries creates unstable economic conditions for both the United States and its allies, which in turn, hurts the American people.
From a health advantage, despite having access to treatment in the United States, AIDS affects Americans too, as mentioned by Dr. Hogan. In 2003, former president George W. Bush recognized the threat that HIV and AIDS posed to humanity as a whole, as well as the United States. As a result, he created PEPFAR, or the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, which is a government initiative dedicated to combating AIDS globally. This program has been cited as one of the most successful preventative measures and is still government-funded today. Since its creation, PEPFAR has helped provide treatment for almost 15.7 million people. Having been accredited as one of the most important global intervention programs in the 21st century, PEPFAR illustrates the importance of continuing to invest in foreign aid and HIV/AIDS relief programs.
Investing in Foreign Aid
Kenya alone has about 1.6 million people living with HIV and AIDS. It is the third-largest epidemic in the world, and epidemics do not stay within country borders. Furthermore, HIV is not a disease that only affects developing countries, with 1.2 million people in the United States having AIDS. While the number may seem significantly lower, it does not mean the United States can push aside responsibility for making a change. Continuing to invest in foreign aid and research initiatives, such as Dr. Hogan’s pooled test for HIV/AIDS, allows for mathematical and scientific breakthroughs that save lives. Specifically, pooled testing for HIV/AIDS is a cheaper, efficient alternative that may allow for increased testing, resulting in lower infection rates.
Global poverty is a global issue. Through educating and supporting programs that reduce infection rates and sickness, the United States’ involvement in foreign aid can help eradicate global poverty—an ideal that would have serious investment returns for the United States, both on the homefront and around the world.
—Alyssa Hogan
Photo: Flickr