Donations to HIV/AIDS charities plummet - thoughts?

[rawTOP]

There's an interesting article in the NYC local news website…

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131203/chelsea/aids-organizations-see-fundraising-plummet-as-donors-shift-other-causes

HIV/AIDS charities are seeing their donations dry up while other gay causes like gay marriage are seeing increases. I know GMHC, once a leader in HIV/AIDS work has been going through a lot of problems the last few years and is now just a shadow of the organization it used to be. That's probably pretty typical. In contrast Callen-Lorde (a GLBT health center here in NYC) is talking about where they locate if they expand their operations.

My first gut reaction is that this is a normal and natural progression. HIV isn't what it used to be. Yes, the numbers of people with HIV continues to climb, but I'd guess that the number of people with AIDS is going down since most people with HIV don't progress to AIDS - at least not in Western countries where ARVs are available. Since HIV has been tamed (to a degree) it makes sense that there just isn't the same level of need for HIV/AIDS organizations, right? Or the HIV/AIDS organizations are becoming more like businesses and less like charities – Callen-Lorde being a good example of that.

What are your thoughts? Is less funding for HIV/AIDS organizations a bad thing? If so, why?