Articles of the Month

HIV Epidemic

According to the newspaper-La Press, dated Wednesday 3 July, 2002, in an article relating to the severity of Aids in the world, it stated that "Aids will kill 68 million people from now to 2020". Most newspapers have been covering these numbers closely for the past couple of weeks. Why now? Considering that's roughly 3,7 million people a year, why not before I wonder? The Aids epidemic is mainly reaching incredible proportions in developing countries but most of all among young adults. Half of all new HIV cases are reported among the age group of 15 to 24 years. To put the situation into perspective, 34 million young adults will die from the virus in 18 years time.

Why has such a deadly virus been allowed to reach such enormous epic proportions? As young adults, do we question our own understanding of the phrase: " There is no cure for Aids". Jean Chrétien did address this issue at the G8 Summit. But dismantling nuclear warheads still gets more than double the funds allocated to the prevention and research for Aids. How effective are the steps being taken to prevent the spread of the disease throughout the world?

The media plays a much more important role than it appears. If it were not for all the recent media coverage, the proportions would still be unknown. Facts surrounding the spread of the deadly illness are only surfacing. Medication is only accessible to 4% of people affected with HIV in developing countries. Pharmaceutical companies keep their eye on the buck and not on the number of lives saved at the end of the day. Life expectancy has dropped to 27 years of age for a male in Botswana and Mozambique. Entire graveyards are created solely for burying the victims of Aids. The repercussions of the epidemic are already hitting hard on the streets. Orphans are taking to street life, crime rates are up and school attendance is dropping.

Emphasis on education is number one on the list, now more than ever before. The illness is deadly, whether rich or poor, therefore access to patient care and treatment should not be about social class. These patients are not only victims of the illness, they are pushed into a social bracket of their own. In many of the African countries, they are condemned and expelled from their homes and villages in disgrace and shame. Suffering from the effects of the illness as well as the psychological pain of failure and rejection. They are mistreated and ignored. The continuation of these stereotypes allows alienation and therefore what you cannot see does not exist. Denying the problem is not solving it.

Awareness and education will help stop the spread. In order to educate young and old people alike, the barrier that has been put up must come down and drastically fast. The preventive measures should be practiced and the population should be free to openly discuss the measures. Sexuality is not a sin, but dying should not be the price for love. If we can look the disease in the face we are one step closer to removing it's privileges.