3 ms·

#2 and #3 seems like obvious places to direct public funds via government, being investments in public goods. In the USA, this can be done either through execu

#2 and #3 seems like obvious places to direct public funds via government, being investments in public goods. In the USA, this can be done either through executive agencies, or by Congress. Is Congress unaware of the issue, or is there some political jockeying that prevents it? It seems like maybe it's worth redirecting funds from other basic research (medical or otherwise) into this area for at least a few years.

chimeracoder 4y ago
> #2 and #3 seems like obvious places to direct public funds via government, being investments in public goods. In the USA, this can be done either through executive agencies, or by Congress. Is Congress unaware of the issue, or is there some political jockeying that prevents it? It seems like maybe it's worth redirecting funds from other basic research (medical or otherwise) into this area for at least a few years. This problem disproportionately affects gay men and sex workers (of any gender/orientation), and the government's track record with public health issues that affect gay men is... pretty bad. The HIV epidemic began in 1981, and the first FDA-approved condom for anal sex didn't appear until 2022. Heck, there wasn't even an FDA-approved gonorrhea test for gay men until 2019. Or if you want something more recent, look at how badly the US government botched the Mpox epidemic. The US literally had Jynneos vaccines ready to go, and at multiple points either failed to arrange for the logistics of using them or (in more egregious displays) simply refused to administer them altogether. The US government's mishandling of Mpox response has been so egregious that unless you were following it closely, you'd think sounds like satire or a conspiracy theory. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/opinion/monkeypox-covid-and-hiv.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/opinion/monkeypox-covid-a... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/nyregion/nyc-monkeypox-vaccine-doses-denmark.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/nyregion/nyc-monkeypox-va... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccine-jynneos-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccin...
sjsdaiuasgdia 4y ago
I think there's a few factors that contribute to there not being much political attention on gonorrhea treatment and prevention in the US. 1) Only about 0.2% of the US population contracts gonorrhea annually [0] 2) Many people see gonorrhea as a consequence of risky sex, which then butts up against religious beliefs and the like. The Religious Right would not generally be in favor of anything that makes sex less dangerous, and it would almost certainly become a culture war issue. 3) Until pretty recently, gonorrhea was not that big a deal because we had multiple antibiotics that worked against it. Public perception has not yet caught up with the science, thus there's not that many people clamoring for action. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/626863/rate-of-cases-of-gonorrhea-in-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/626863/rate-of-cases-of-...
- acdha 4y ago
  I’d use HPV as a cautionary example: there has been a ton of opposition from religious people who more or less explicitly say that they need the fear of cancer to keep their kids from having sex before marriage. The fact that it can spread without sexual contact or that people get cheated on doesn’t enter into the picture, it’s entirely about the motivational power of fear. As a parent I find that idea abhorrent but it’s certainly not uncommon, which lead to demand for it not to be on vaccination lists and attempts to exclude it from medical coverage.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    Most of the signalling on the religious right for the HPV vaccine was explicitly that if you let your daughter take it to protect her from an annoying and harmful cancer, she will become a sexual deviant and a whore.
    - acdha 4y ago
      Yeah, it was just disgusting both for what it said about how they viewed their children and the not inconsiderable number of women who are cheated on by “good Christian men” and find out the hard way.

chimeracoder 4y ago

> #2 and #3 seems like obvious places to direct public funds via government, being investments in public goods. In the USA, this can be done either through executive agencies, or by Congress. Is Congress unaware of the issue, or is there some political jockeying that prevents it? It seems like maybe it's worth redirecting funds from other basic research (medical or otherwise) into this area for at least a few years. This problem disproportionately affects gay men and sex workers (of any gender/orientation), and the government's track record with public health issues that affect gay men is... pretty bad. The HIV epidemic began in 1981, and the first FDA-approved condom for anal sex didn't appear until 2022. Heck, there wasn't even an FDA-approved gonorrhea test for gay men until 2019. Or if you want something more recent, look at how badly the US government botched the Mpox epidemic. The US literally had Jynneos vaccines ready to go, and at multiple points either failed to arrange for the logistics of using them or (in more egregious displays) simply refused to administer them altogether. The US government's mishandling of Mpox response has been so egregious that unless you were following it closely, you'd think sounds like satire or a conspiracy theory. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/opinion/monkeypox-covid-and-hiv.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/29/opinion/monkeypox-covid-a... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/nyregion/nyc-monkeypox-vaccine-doses-denmark.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/nyregion/nyc-monkeypox-va... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccine-jynneos-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccin...

sjsdaiuasgdia 4y ago

I think there's a few factors that contribute to there not being much political attention on gonorrhea treatment and prevention in the US. 1) Only about 0.2% of the US population contracts gonorrhea annually [0] 2) Many people see gonorrhea as a consequence of risky sex, which then butts up against religious beliefs and the like. The Religious Right would not generally be in favor of anything that makes sex less dangerous, and it would almost certainly become a culture war issue. 3) Until pretty recently, gonorrhea was not that big a deal because we had multiple antibiotics that worked against it. Public perception has not yet caught up with the science, thus there's not that many people clamoring for action. [0] https://www.statista.com/statistics/626863/rate-of-cases-of-gonorrhea-in-us/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/626863/rate-of-cases-of-...

acdha 4y ago
I’d use HPV as a cautionary example: there has been a ton of opposition from religious people who more or less explicitly say that they need the fear of cancer to keep their kids from having sex before marriage. The fact that it can spread without sexual contact or that people get cheated on doesn’t enter into the picture, it’s entirely about the motivational power of fear. As a parent I find that idea abhorrent but it’s certainly not uncommon, which lead to demand for it not to be on vaccination lists and attempts to exclude it from medical coverage.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  Most of the signalling on the religious right for the HPV vaccine was explicitly that if you let your daughter take it to protect her from an annoying and harmful cancer, she will become a sexual deviant and a whore.
  - acdha 4y ago
    Yeah, it was just disgusting both for what it said about how they viewed their children and the not inconsiderable number of women who are cheated on by “good Christian men” and find out the hard way.