The New Core revolutionizes AIDS care . . . soon
■"AIDS in India, China and Russia Nears 'Tipping Point," U.N. Says," by David Brown, Washington Post, 1 December 2005, p. A17.
When China picked up smoking (at least among the men) big time about two decades ago, thanks in no small part to tobacco companies in the U.S. being driven abroad (of course, smoking was nothing new there, so I'm just talking penetration rates), it set in motion the inevitable rise of a cancer industry. You want to find some of the most innovative thinking on cancer today, China has plenty.
For that same reason, New Core powers like Brazil (which is pioneering certain low-cost treatments on HIV and working to export them to Africa) become the inevitable leaders in taming AIDS inside the Gap. Why? They don't have a lot of extra money for medical issues, even ones as sweeping as AIDS, so they will make do and have to be as innovative as possible.
As AIDS reaches inflection points in India and China especially, look for these two countries to mount R&D "wars" against this immense threat to social and economic stability there. And a result, watch for India and China to teach the Gap—and maybe even the Core—a thing or two about how to deal with AIDS.
This is not some noble ode to these two cultures, simply understanding that necessity is the mother of invention.