Staying Positive... Safe From AIDS

“As of 2010, 34 million people live with HIV¹”

   As you should all know, December 1 is World AIDS Day. Activists around the world gather to raise awareness on this subject; the United Nations continue to urge support for HIV/AIDS-based initiatives, college students light candles worldwide to mark their concern, even the Media has shown interest and took a part in spreading the word. And others take advantage of social networks to alert friends and family of the on-going risk of infection and join organizations in helping end it.

“In 2010, 1.8 million people died of AIDS-related diseases²”

   Let's start with the basics. How are HIV and AIDS related? Despite hearing these two words and using them together all the time, not everyone knows exactly their meanings. HIV stands for HumanImmunoDeficiencyVirus. AIDS stands for Acquired ImmunoDeficiency Syndrome (a disease in which there is a severe loss of the body's cellular immunity, greatly lowering the resistance to infection and malignancy) ³. HIV is the virus that causes the disease AIDS.

“In 2010, 47% of all people eligible received HIV treatment⁴”

   Now I know what you're all thinking; is there anyone left in the world, in the twenty-first century, who hasn't heard of AIDS? The answer is probably No. Thanks to activists around the world for spreading the word about it. Yet, what's so unfortunate about this is that the number of AIDS/HIV infections does not seem to be decreasing, or at least not by much. Despite worldwide campaigns and warnings, there are still countries that deny the widespread of AIDS/HIV across their lands. What makes this horrifying fact even worse is that people with this disease do not always try to control its widespread, thus creating the so-called ripple effect on the community.

“Proper nutrition is an essential means of protecting the lives and livelihoods of people living with HIV. Food security also plays a critical role in helping to stop the spread of the epidemic. In 2010, WFP reached 2.5 million people affected by HIV and TB in 44 countries⁵”

   One of the important issues that always interested me was Hunger worldwide. And just as it seems, it was proven that HIV, malnutrition and food insecurity are closely interlinked. You see when you are HIV positive you might feel fatigued and tired more often than the average person. Hence, leading to the inability to work and make a living. This, in turn, leads to food insecurity and quite often engagement in sexual activities and sex work, making the situation much worse.
This is also when other problems appear. Sexual discrimination, alienation of infected individuals, social disgrace, and the list continues...
   Here’s an interesting concept. There exists something called the Needle-Exchange program; it collects used needles and distributes clean ones in return. This intends to promote safe needle use by users of drugs, extremely useful if you ask me. The use of drugs will be carried on either way, nevertheless with the help of this program the chances of being infected by the use of intravenous drug injections will decline, drastically.
   Let me introduce you the newest campaign fighting this disease. World AIDS/HIV Day this year is about “Getting to Zero”. A fresh new campaign hosted by UNAIDS concerned with achieving Zero New HIV Infections, Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS-related Deaths. Here are the following 10 goals for 2015, as stated by the campaign itself⁶:

1. Sexual transmission of HIV reduced by half, including among young people, men who have sex with men and  transmission in the context of sex work;
2. Vertical transmission of HIV eliminated and  AIDS-related maternal deaths reduced by half;
3. All new HIV infections prevented among people who use drugs.
4. Universal access to antiretroviral therapy for people  living with HIV who are eligible for  treatment;
5. TB  deaths among people living with HIV reduced by half;
6. All people living with HIV and households affected by HIV are addressed in  all national social protection strategies and have access to essential  care and support.
7. Countries with punitive laws and practices around HIV transmission, sex work, drug use or homosexuality that block effective  responses reduced by half ;
8. HIV-related restrictions on entry, stay and residence  eliminated in half of the countries that have such  restrictions;
9. HIV-specific needs of women and girls are addressed in  at least half of all national HIV  responses;
10. Zero tolerance for gender-based violence.

   This is far from an easy task to accomplish. Yet, millions of activists worldwide still invest their effort in one of the biggest missions of mankind to date. The best thing to be done now is to alert younger generations of this epidemic. This can be done through various Youth activities, specifically targeting younger populations in hope to salvage future generations and make it easier for them when dealing with the disease. So if we could only get our children to show interest and take a part, no matter how small it is, then we’re heading in the right direction.
   What’s so important is for people to fully grasp the idea and end prejudice. Only after that can we fully work as one hand. Do yourself a favour. Do the entire mankind a favour. Find out more about how AIDS/HIV can spread, how you can protect yourself, and how to encourage others to follow your steps. Because remember, it always starts with you; take the lead, others will follow... eventually.

 
1, 2, 4, 5: http://www.wfp.org/hiv-aids
3:  https://www.google.com
6: http://www.unaids.org/en