Today is World AIDS Day and Bloggers Unite is coming together once again to bring awareness to yet another topic the world needs to know more about.
But wait. I thought HIV and AIDS, while still a menace to our society was somewhat contained. Perhaps it's growth rate had even slowed as we don't hear about it every day in the media any longer. All the attention seems to be focused on politics, the economy, Paris and Britney's latest escapades, or how to lose 12 inches of belly fat in 24 days. Surely if these topics are taking precedence, AIDS and HIV are not on the rise?
Wrong.
While certain demographic segments, older white men for example, are on the decline, other demographics are sharply on the rise. Young, gay men, particularly among black and hispanic men are contracting HIV at an alarming rate.
The most alarming statistic of all comes out of Africa. Of the 33 million HIV cases reported worldwide, 22.5 million of those cases come from Africa. That's 22.5 million adults and children living with HIV right now on one continent.
There are believed to be a staggering 15 million orphaned children worldwide due to losing a parent or parents to HIV or AIDS.
These are just a few statistics of a very real pandemic. Below are a few websites with great resources to learn more about HIV and AIDS and to re-educate ourselves instead of reading the latest headlines that main stream media feels we should be informed about.
Please take a few minutes and read about what is truly going on in our world. Discuss the information you read about today with someone or everyone you know. Perhaps it will make a difference.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/nyregion/02h
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparecat.jsp?cat=11iv.html
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/Factsheets/aidsstat.htm
http://www.thebody.com/index/whatis/africa_statistics.html
9 hours ago
4 comments:
Great post Shirl. I had planned on doing a post for this and then forgot it. Says a lot for me.
Good thing some bloggers have it together more than I.
Really nice job.
Thanks for bringing this to the forefront again for us. We don't hear enough about AIDS anymore. It seems to be a forgotten disease, I guess because Americans have access to the drugs that keep them alive longer now. But everyone else in the world is constantly forgotten.
As always, your posts are insightful and great.
I told you I would notify you here too, so this is it--you've been tagged. :)
I would rather have done it on a different post but since this is your latest...
Over for A Time for Change and reading your blog from first to last.
I have often thought of what will happen to the millions of children orphaned by AIDS in Africa. It's a frightening thought to know that so many are without parents and living in extreme poverty. Some are with grandparents or other family members, but many more are not.
There is a lost generation growing up in Africa now. I wonder how many in Somalia are pirates now. Or how many in Darfur are participating in the genocide. Thank you for talking abut this. More people need to follow your example.
Post a Comment