Everything is flawed. Everything depends on education, and effective education requires the cooperation of those being educated. Cooperation, in turn, depends on compassionate treatment. It is difficult to discuss AIDS because it is, and ought to be, somewhat difficult to discuss sex. It is hard to put sex under a clinical spotlight and still maintain the reverence for it that makes our own experience as lovers and parents meaningful.
Morality is different for different people.
For some morality means, first of all, restrained behavior. For others morality means, first of all, concern and respect for all human beings. The first group may tend to feel little responsibility to help those who do not restrain their own behavior. What does the process tell us about the prospects for a vaccine or a cure. There are specific events, reactions, approaches, outcomes, etc., within the novel that have clear and immediate application to the AIDS situation.