Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
This is my humble opinion:
AIDS is a punishment from Almighty Allah for the general promiscuity that has enveloped society, not just the West, but the entire world. A lot of people have asked that AIDS is many times passed on from mother to child, and the child is innocent, so why is Allah punishing him/her? I agree the child is innocent, but he is tainted with sin, in the sense that what his parents have wrought. He suffers the consequences for their rebellion against Allah. The child's own punishment can also be a punishment for the mother, because no mother can bear the suffering of her child, especially an infant. We all have to remember that when Allah punishes, He punishes severely, He is the Lord after all, and when He shows His Mercy, it is ecstatic to put it mildly. Almighty Allah has punished entire civilizations and societies for their wickedness, there are numerous examples from the Holy Quran:
Humanity was punished with the Great Flood for rejecting their Prophet Noah (alaihi salam)
But they rejected him, and We delivered him, and those with him, in the Ark: but We overwhelmed in the flood those who rejected Our signs. They were indeed a blind people! (7:64)
Sodom was a particularly wicked nation, and for their rejection of Prophet Lot (alaihi salam)
When Our Decree issued, We turned (the cities) upside down, and rained down on them brimstones hard as baked clay, spread, layer on layer (11:82)
Egypt and the people of Pharoah were punished with numerous plagues for their rejection of the message of Prophet Moses (alaihi salam)
So We sent (plagues) on them: Wholesale death, Locusts, Lice, Frogs, And Blood: Signs openly self-explained: but they were steeped in arrogance,- a people given to sin. (7:133)
The nation of Thamud was warned by their Prophet Salih (alaihi salam) but they rejected him, and were destroyed by a massive storm
But the Thamud, they were destroyed by a terrible Storm of thunder and lightning! (69:5)
The nation of 'Ad rejected their Prophet Hud (alaihi salam) and they were destroyed by a ferocious wind
And the 'Ad, they were destroyed by a furious Wind, exceedingly violent (69:6)
These are some examples of Heavenly punishments for those who became wicked and behaved insolently against the Prophets which Allah sent to warn against them. Now Allah has reiterated the warning of the greatest punishment yet through His Last Prophet Muhammad (salallahu alaihi wa salam) - The Day of Judgment itself! Other punishments on a smaller scale have also been prophecised such as AIDS, from the hadith I mentioned earlier. Who can deny that these are the Signs from Heaven?