Open Letter Requesting Awareness
Today, Thursday December 1st , is World AIDS day.
With so many other stories vying for national attention the spotlight has faded somewhat on the AIDS epidemic. But the war has not been won; now more then ever is a time for vigilance. In 2005, 5 million NEW infections have been diagnosed. 40 million people live with AIDS including 3 million children. 3 million people died from complications due to AIDS, and there are 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone.
In 1991 Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced that he had tested positive for HIV, thrusting a disease into the national spotlight that had been previously thought to be a “Gay” problem. A slow miracle has happened.
Magic is still alive and well (against many
predictions) and opening up new Starbucks and movie theatres every week. Some say that Magic’s very public ability to live with HIV has caused complacency towards the disease. People forget that Magic has the very best medical care at his disposal and not everyone can be so lucky. Of the 6.5 million people in developing and transitional countries who need life-saving AIDS drugs, only 1 million are receiving them.
The battle lines maybe slowly shifting from medical breakthroughs to treatment dispersion but the war rages on.
The theme for this year’s World AIDS day is “Stop
Aids: Keep The Promise”. It’s appeal to governments to keep fighting for the reduction targets that they set 5 years ago. It’s scary that we have to appeal to governments and policy makers around the world to keep fighting this epidemic but that’s where we find ourselves today.
This battle is not over and we need to keep fighting the good fight.
For more information and to find out how you can help check out www.avert.org its where most of these statistics came from.
Chris
With so many other stories vying for national attention the spotlight has faded somewhat on the AIDS epidemic. But the war has not been won; now more then ever is a time for vigilance. In 2005, 5 million NEW infections have been diagnosed. 40 million people live with AIDS including 3 million children. 3 million people died from complications due to AIDS, and there are 12 million AIDS orphans in Africa alone.
In 1991 Earvin “Magic” Johnson announced that he had tested positive for HIV, thrusting a disease into the national spotlight that had been previously thought to be a “Gay” problem. A slow miracle has happened.
Magic is still alive and well (against many
predictions) and opening up new Starbucks and movie theatres every week. Some say that Magic’s very public ability to live with HIV has caused complacency towards the disease. People forget that Magic has the very best medical care at his disposal and not everyone can be so lucky. Of the 6.5 million people in developing and transitional countries who need life-saving AIDS drugs, only 1 million are receiving them.
The battle lines maybe slowly shifting from medical breakthroughs to treatment dispersion but the war rages on.
The theme for this year’s World AIDS day is “Stop
Aids: Keep The Promise”. It’s appeal to governments to keep fighting for the reduction targets that they set 5 years ago. It’s scary that we have to appeal to governments and policy makers around the world to keep fighting this epidemic but that’s where we find ourselves today.
This battle is not over and we need to keep fighting the good fight.
For more information and to find out how you can help check out www.avert.org its where most of these statistics came from.
Chris
posted by paul at 12:41 PM
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