Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor

Editor’s Note: September 2006

By David Stubbs   

Features Leadership Profession

In this issue, readers will find encouragement to get involved at the
grassroots level, both in the local political process and by
volunteering with amateur athletes.

In this issue, readers will find encouragement to get involved at the grassroots level, both in the local political process and by volunteering with amateur athletes.

Our pages spring to life with the stories of DCs who are vitally connected to the sports of softball, football, baseball, hockey, paddling (sprint canoe/kayak), rowing and triathlon.  We are also taken on a journey to the FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany to share the spirit of soccer, referred to by many as the beautiful game.
From below the equator, Dr. Dennis Richards, president of the Chiropractors’ Association of Australia, tells us how chiropractors Down Under are working toward a stronger voice in national health policy-making.  Travelling to Vancouver in November to address those assembled at the Canadian Chiropractic Convention, Dr. Richards will speak about his association’s pursuit of a governmental shift toward health promotion and disease prevention.

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During this summer’s searing heat, international crises and sporadic terrorism, we also witnessed the convergence from 170 countries of more than 24,000 people who are committed to the battle against the greatest scourge ever to face mankind.  AIDS 2006, with its theme of “Time to Deliver,” drew activists, researchers, scientists, workers, and celebrities to Toronto, whose population is less than the number of people dying every year in the epidemic.  In this nation, one-third of all new HIV infections tragically occur within the Aboriginal population.  The overall statistics are horrific: 25 years after its emergence, the disease has claimed a staggering 25 million lives.  There are said to be 40 million people afflicted with HIV/AIDS; over half are in Africa where more than 50 per cent of them are women.  Fifteen million children have been orphaned.

Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, was soundly criticized for his conspicuous absence from the massive opening ceremonies.  In her words of welcome, Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who was born in the Caribbean country of Haiti, which itself was once stigmatized as a hotbed of the disease, commented that “every life is precious in every corner of this world.”

Bill and Melinda Gates told the audience that stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS is the highest priority of their foundation, which recently donated another  $.5 billion to the global fund.  At an annual rate of four million new infections, Bill Gates noted that “treatment without prevention is unsustainable.”  Though there are as many as 25 vaccines in the clinical trial stage, and glimmers of possibilities for microbicides, as well as the potential application of antiretroviral drugs for prevention, the founding director of UNAIDS, Dr. Peter Piot, observed that “For generations to come, ours will be a world living with HIV.”  He said, “Faced with an exceptional crisis, we have no choice but to act in exceptional ways.”

“Ending AIDS,” said Melinda Gates, “will be an act of the whole human family working together for one another.”

At the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, onsite treatment that included chiropractic was provided in the lounge for people living with HIV/AIDS.  This and other chiropractic HIV/AIDS initiatives will be reported in the next issue.•


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