Join Red
Today is World AIDS Day. Because it's such an important issue to so many people, I thought I'd write a little about it.
At this point, researchers estimate that there are 39.5 million people living with HIV - including 2.3 million children. They say that about 4.3 million people became newly infected in 2006, and about half of people who become infected contract the virus before they are 25 ... and most die of AIDS before they are 35. About 95% of all the people with the disease live in developing countries.
World AIDS Day was started in 1988 to raise money, but also to increase awareness, fight the prejudices surrounding the disease, and improve education. Although many people know that the disease is out there, many false impressions still exist, and there are many things that still need to be done to stop the spread of this deadly disease.
When I was in Zambia, I made an offhand remark to someone about how the Zambian women are very beautiful. She replied, "yes, they are. Beautiful but deadly." This is because *most* of them are infected with HIV. They are attractive, beautiful women, and the men that fall prey to that most likely end up with the disease as well.
There were other things that I found out in Zambia that shocked me. The disease is spread many ways, but one of those ways involves the witch doctors and local healing practices. When people are sick, the witch doctors line up the sick people and "bleed" them. They take blood from the first person in line, and go down the line injecting it into the next person. It is meant to cleanse the person from whatever illness is contaminating their blood - but if any one of them has HIV, all of them end up with it. UNICEF estimates that by the year 2030, there will only be the older generation (known as the "aged") and the kids, because all the middle-aged/younger people will have died of AIDS. That is one scary statistic, in my opinion.
Overall, World AIDS Day is to raise awareness about the disease. There are many organizations worldwide who are advertising "Join Red" - selling customized products designed to raise money for continued awareness, research, and education about HIV/AIDS. It's a horrible disease, but if we continue to put the effort into it, we will make progress in getting rid of it.
At this point, researchers estimate that there are 39.5 million people living with HIV - including 2.3 million children. They say that about 4.3 million people became newly infected in 2006, and about half of people who become infected contract the virus before they are 25 ... and most die of AIDS before they are 35. About 95% of all the people with the disease live in developing countries.
World AIDS Day was started in 1988 to raise money, but also to increase awareness, fight the prejudices surrounding the disease, and improve education. Although many people know that the disease is out there, many false impressions still exist, and there are many things that still need to be done to stop the spread of this deadly disease.
When I was in Zambia, I made an offhand remark to someone about how the Zambian women are very beautiful. She replied, "yes, they are. Beautiful but deadly." This is because *most* of them are infected with HIV. They are attractive, beautiful women, and the men that fall prey to that most likely end up with the disease as well.
There were other things that I found out in Zambia that shocked me. The disease is spread many ways, but one of those ways involves the witch doctors and local healing practices. When people are sick, the witch doctors line up the sick people and "bleed" them. They take blood from the first person in line, and go down the line injecting it into the next person. It is meant to cleanse the person from whatever illness is contaminating their blood - but if any one of them has HIV, all of them end up with it. UNICEF estimates that by the year 2030, there will only be the older generation (known as the "aged") and the kids, because all the middle-aged/younger people will have died of AIDS. That is one scary statistic, in my opinion.
Overall, World AIDS Day is to raise awareness about the disease. There are many organizations worldwide who are advertising "Join Red" - selling customized products designed to raise money for continued awareness, research, and education about HIV/AIDS. It's a horrible disease, but if we continue to put the effort into it, we will make progress in getting rid of it.