New York Times profiles Dr. Eric Goosby on World AIDS Day 2006
"Real People in the Fight Against AIDS" celebrated on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006
Eric Goosby, MD, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation
Dr. Eric Goosby began practicing medicine in the early 80s, when San Francisco's emergency rooms were inundated by men facing a mysterious, as-yet-unnamed fatal disease. No one knew what the illness was, or how to protect against contagion. "Dedicated people were overwhelmed by their fear -- immobilized by anxiety," said Dr. Goosby.
The wide use of universal precautions in the first world has since eased most caregivers' deep worries, but in developing countries, where prejudices are often strong and treatment options few, health care providers' fears persist and create a "barrier to care," explained Dr. Goosby. A significant fraction of caregivers are themselves HIV-positive, and may be hiding their status or resisting testing. Tragically, "they're not using universal precautions; we have to institute them everywhere."
Pangaea creates systems of care in sub-Saharan Africa, Ukraine and China that are designed to support people with HIV/AIDS with outpatient care, before HIV progresses to an end-stage crisis. But first, caregivers need to understand the risk of contagion -- and their own HIV status.
"We go in and acknowledge that many of the doctors and nurses are likely to be positive," Dr. Goosby said. "We need to take care of our own -- with discretion, we need to treat and care for caregivers with HIV. We say, you need to protect yourself, and we need to protect each other."
Dr. Goosby logs about 300,000 air miles a year. "I travel too much," he said, a day before he set off for China. "But the common human response is humbling: Everyone is, after all, trying to do their best. We all have the same joy, the same sorrow, the same relief. Despite all this death and dying, it keeps me optimistic about the planet."