HIV/AIDS claims the overwhelming majority of its victims in the working class and peasantry in the semicolonial nations oppressed by imperialism. Prevention of the spread of AIDS is completely possible within the current resources of humanity. The refusal of the wealthy imperialist powers that have plundered the continent for hundreds of years to mobilize the necessary medical and other aid is a moral outrage.

Massive funds--not loans--should be made available now to provide needed medical, educational, and social infrastructural personnel and resources to both care for those already infected and to bring an end to the spread of the disease. The decision on what services to establish and what drugs to use should be a sovereign African one, not made by the drug monopolies or imperialist powers. Africa's foreign debt should be canceled outright and immediately.

Working-class fighters should reject every argument that takes this question off the axis of the social catastrophe that it is--one that's a pressing question for all working people.

Any acceptance of the notion that the spread of the disease in Africa is an individual problem undercuts the need to demand that Washington and its imperialist allies act now, in a massive way, without strings attached.

While there is little information available on the spread of AIDS due to infection of the blood supply and sharing of needles--a source of a high percentage of the spread of the disease in a number of countries--it is clear that in Africa the general lack of health care, including failure to treat venereal diseases, is a major cause of the rapid spread of the virus during sexual intercourse, including among heterosexuals.

There is a big jump in transmission of AIDS from mother to child during pregnancy as well, in part a result of the criminal lack of access to available drugs and follow-up medical attention. The second-class status and oppression of women means they are hit disproportionately with the disease, especially at a young age.

Drugs are available that allow many people to live longer, productive lives, but they are priced far out of the reach of workers and peasants in Africa by the profit-hungry drug companies.

Washington made its morally bankrupt position clear last month when it announced that the U.S. Export-Import Bank would "help" African governments by providing $1 billion in loans at commercial interest rates for the purchase of AIDS medications, provided the drugs are made in the United States. This cynical maneuver would hand a blood-profits bonanza to the U.S. drug monopolies, while expanding Africa's $315 billion debt burden.

While no HIV/AIDS vaccine is yet available, practical steps can be taken today to stem the spread of this pandemic and prolong the lives of those infected throughout southern Africa. Such steps include massive popular education campaigns conducted door to door in working-class townships, in rural villages, in mine and factory hostels, and in the schools to explain what HIV/AIDS is, how it spreads, and prevention techniques. Other realizable steps to check the spread of the disease include providing basic health care to all, early treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, distribution of condoms, and HIV testing and counseling--all free of charge.