CURING WORLD'S DISEASES ISN'T THAT SIMPLE

It is easy for Americans -- who have seen in just one generation the conquering of dread diseases like smallpox and polio -- to forget that much of the world's population doesn't have access to U.S.-style health care.

In Africa, AIDS is so prevalent in some countries that health and government officials simply can't see any feasible medical solution.

Massive efforts to thwart preventable diseases have had great success.

Smallpox was declared to be conquered several years ago, but isolated cases around the globe continue to be reported.

Rotary International, the world's largest service organization, has raised about half a billion dollars to eradicate polio, which is prevalent mostly in third-world countries.

Even with such massive financial resources, the goal remains elusive.

Last week Microsoft founder Bill Gates announced a $100 million donation for research into an AIDS vaccine.

While large sums of money are certainly needed to mount an effective worldwide health campaign, there are other barriers that sometimes prove insurmountable.

Rotary International, for example, has discovered through its PolioPlus efforts that location, government policies and warfare often prevent administering ample supplies of polio vaccine in some parts of the world.

Quite simply, some poor nations don't have the administrative ability to carry out a massive vaccine program, much less adequate medical facilities to do it properly.

In some cases, civil warfare prevents the delivery of vaccine. In other cases, bureaucratic red tape stands in the way.

The generous donation from Gates to for AIDS research might very well lead to breakthroughs in treatment or even a cure.

If so, Americans and AIDS victims in developed countries would be the most likely to benefit.

These are the same countries where AIDS infects a small percentage of the population.

But there are some African countries where AIDS or the HIV virus already infect nearly half the population, and there are estimates that those alarming numbers will go much higher. What's lacking, even if an AIDS vaccine existed, is a workable process for distributing and administering such a lifesaving miracle around the globe.

Individuals like Gates and organizations like Rotary International are to be commended for their unflagging efforts to conquer the spread of AIDS, polio and other diseases. But it is likely to take a vast shift in cultural and social currents to make the world's people healthy everywhere.