Tomorrow is World AIDS Day. Yes, another year has gone by and we still have such a long way to go. I don't know what it was about the community that I was raised in, but in the early 1990s, when HIV was being recognized as an indiscriminate virus (one that didn't care about your sexual orientation, race, or religion), parents became consumed by the thought of their children being affected (and infected) with HIV. Even if your parents never talked to you about sex, they did tell you one thing: "Use a condom". That was it. Condoms, condoms, condoms. To be perfectly honest, I have never considered not using one. It was just so ingrained in me. It still is.
So why is it fifteen years later and the epidemic hasn't lessened its grasp on the world? Why is it that 6,000 children lose a parent to AIDS or an AIDS-related illness every day? Why are there 33.2 million people who are living with HIV globally? There were 2.5 million new infections of people 15 and older in 2007 and 2.1 million children and adults have died this year from AIDS. (21,000 from North America!)WHY WHY WHY?
HIV is preventable. We know what it takes. Use a condom. Be tested. Don't share needles or blood related products. And most importantly, don't be complacent. HIV is still as important an issue as it was twenty years ago.
For more information (and for additional HIV/AIDS resources), please check out POZ.com.
