Editorials
Monday, December 14, 1998

AIDS still mass killer
in developing world

FOR years health officials encouraged mothers in developing countries to feed their infants their own breast milk rather than formula, which is often contaminated with polluted water. But the AIDS epidemic has forced a change. United Nations officials now recommend that women infected with the AIDS virus consider feeding their babies formula instead of their own milk, which can transmit the virus to their children despite the danger of unsafe water. Last year alone there were more than 600,000 new cases among babies, most of whom received the virus from infected breast milk.

Last year AIDS fell out of the top 10 causes of death in the United States -- for the first time since 1990. Multiple-drug "cocktails" have transformed the HIV infection into a manageable chronic condition for many American victims. However, the news about AIDS isn't all positive. The new treatments enable some infected people to live longer, but don't cure the disease. They have unpleasant side effects and can cost upward of $15,000 a year.

But the grimmest situation lies outside the United States, in the developing world, where more than 11 million people have already died. In the poor countries -- particularly in Africa, where more than 80 percent of AIDS deaths occur -- the new treatments aren't available. Worldwide, an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. New infections this year are estimated at 5.8 million.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the biggest problem by far. Of the 33 million adults and children living with HIV/AIDS, 22 million are Africans. In the region alone, 11.5 million people have died and doctors expect at least 20 million more will die.

In Uganda, where 20 percent of the population is infected, officials in October began an unprecedented AIDS vaccine trial. People in the developing world make better subjects because scientists can gauge how well a vaccine reduces the amount of the virus already in an infected person. In the West, most HIV-positive people are taking drugs that are unavailable in Africa.

Scientists are still years away from an AIDS vaccine similar to those that contained or eradicated polio, measles and smallpox. While research continues, efforts to encourage prevention through such measures as condom distribution, clean-needle exchanges for drug addicts and sex education in schools must be maintained and intensified. And research on a vaccine must be given full support.

S. Korean economy

A welcome indication that the Asian economic crisis may be easing comes from South Korea. The Seoul government has repaid $2.8 billion borrowed one year ago from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF's managing director, Michel Camdessus, said the decision "marks an important watershed in the process of Korea's emergence from last year's foreign exchange crisis." Camdessus said a stronger currency and a reformed debt structure had reduced Korea's vulnerability to external shocks.

The $2.8 billion is the first repayment to the IMF since Asia's financial crisis began 18 months ago. The money, repaid on schedule, formed part of a record $58 billion international rescue package to South Korea, the world's 11th largest economy. The deal included $21 billion from the IMF.

IMF officials said Seoul was days from default when the international community stepped in. But foreign reserves have since risen to $46.5 billion, well above the $41 billion target level in the IMF rescue program.

Economist Sung Won Sohn of Wells Fargo & Co. in San Francisco said the repayment showed that South Korea's crisis was stabilizing, but "at a very depressed level." Indeed, no one pretends that Korea's economic troubles are over. However, President Kim Dae-jung notes that progress has been made in reforming and stabilizing the economy and predicts it will start growing again by the middle of 1999.

The problems of all the countries affected by the Asian economic crisis are not identical. Korea's difficulties appear to be less deep-rooted than those of some other countries. But Korea's turnabout could help boost confidence in the region as a whole.

Much-used highway

NOBODY threw it a baby luau. But the H-3 freeway celebrated its first birthday on Saturday with official state statistics showing that its $1.3 billion cost and decades of controversy were worthwhile. According to Hawaii's Department of Transportation, nearly a third of all motorists now traveling from the windward side use the fledgling freeway system tunneling through the Koolau mountains. The DOT had expected that level of usage only after 10 years.

True to its history, however, the big freeway once again comes through in a big way. Of the 123,307 Koolau trips made this past Nov. 6, the number of drivers using the Pali Highway dropped to 40 percent, while Likelike Highway usage was 30 percent; H-3 lured away the remaining 30 percent of commuters. Peri Manthos, state highways chief, also credits the H-3 with easing disruptions and frustrations when work crews close down parts of older Pali and Likelike highways for repair and maintenance.

No one could have imagined when H-3 was conceived that it would take 37 years from authorization to completion. Hawaiian cultural practictioners, who still grouse about the freeway's impact on ancient religious sites in Halawa Valley, still hate the transportation project. But Oahu commuters living on the lush windward side, with business concerns in Leeward or Central Oahu, are undoubtedly in the mood to wish the now one-year-old H-3 a very happy birthday.

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Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership

Rupert E. Phillips, CEO

John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

David Shapiro, Managing Editor

Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor

Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor