AIDS Denialism

AIDS denialism is one of the few forms of error with a quantifiable death toll. In South Africa AIDS denialism along with conservative views on spreading information about sexual health contributed to the deaths of millions as an epidemic spread unchecked.

Now does HIV cause AIDS? I would be very surprised if it did not.

The Durban Declaration, available for free from Nature summarizes the evidence for the HIV AIDS hypothesis in very detailed, still nontechnical language. It will take about 5 minutes to read thoroughly. There is much about the epidemic that the HIV causation hypothesis explains, from the Lazarus effect of ARV to the rapid spread across the world of the epidemic.

Denialism costs lives: not believing HIV causes AIDS can cause people to be nonchalant about condom usage or ARVs. This is inevitably a deadly course of action. Unlike climate change there doesn't seem to be a lot of money in the opposing position. So why do people deny that HIV causes AIDS?