Dec
1
Because “happy World AIDS Day didn’t seem appropriate…
“AIDS is not a judgment on its victims, but on those who pass on the other side.” – Stephen Fry
It’s been 20 years since the first World AIDS Day, held on Dec. 1, 1988. Since then, the rates of HIV infection and AIDS deaths have spread around the world. At the end of 2007, there were between 30 and 33 million men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS; there were also 2.0 million estimated AIDS deaths during that time. The rates of HIV/AIDS have become astronomical in Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa. It hasn’t helped that there have been leaders in African countries (like former South African president Thabo Mbeki) who are among the biggest HIV/AIDS deniers, buying into the lie that not only does the HIV virus not cause AIDS, but that antiretroviral drugs can cause the disease. His policies have been responsible for more than 330,000 deaths in his country. Now countries in Asia, especially China, are finally pledging to bring more attention and money to their growing HIV/AIDS problem.
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years – more since the first AIDS cases were first noticed. Originally it was thought of as only a disease contracted by gay men (the first name for the condition, in fact, was GRID; Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disorder). Back in the day, it was “common knowledge” that if you didn’t have sex with men, it wouldn’t be a worry for you. Lesbians didn’t get AIDS. Assuming, of course, that your partner was being honest about who she slept with…
In 20 years we’ve gone from the far too little and far too late approach of Ronald Reagan, to slightly more money and attention during the Clinton years – actually, Clinton has done more since leaving the Presidency – to more lip service and actual backsliding during the past 8 years. Why no, abstinence doesn’t work all that well in practice…and the one thing that seems to help, using condoms during sex, is part of the “global gag rule”. Huh.
There may be a teeny bright light at the end of the tunnel with an Obama presidency, but we’ll see. $50 million USD? A start, certainly; but with the economy going the way it is…yes, we’ll see.
In the meantime, if we do whatever we can to provide our kids with accurate, realistic sex education – including the need to use condoms if they choose to have sex, and about how the HIV and AIDS viruses are actually spread – it’ll go a long way toward keeping our children healthy. If we can keep telling the truth about HIV and AIDS transmission, it’ll go a long way to reducing the number of AIDS deaths here in the US and in the rest of the world. Here’s hoping there won’t be 20 more World AIDS Days, and that this will be a quaint, brutal memory very soon.
I think i’m going to go to the vigil tonight downtown… maybe it will help with the funk i’ve been in. I’ve been working on a paper for English, and have been re-immersing myself in the time period of “Angels in America”, and it just makes me miss my friends Lynn and Tim all the more; they succumbed in ’92 and ’93.
*tight hugs*
You had mentioned that’s your final paper subject – I was thinking about you today. *big hugs*
All of the artwork in the building I work at was covered over today, with recent stats posted as well.
/nods That’s right – it’s also A Day Without Art. I forget about that since moving to Denver; our museum is closed Mondays, so if it’s on a Monday like this year they don’t participate.