Let me start off by saying, there is so much about HIV that I don't know. Last week I learned about all of the statistics involving HIV/AIDS. It absolutely blew my mind the effect that it is having on the world. Of course I hear celebrities and television shows endorsing how bad the fight again AIDS is and how everyone should help. But even me hearing other people talk about what an epidemic it is, I still had no idea how vast it was (even in my own country). One statistic from the Florida Department of Health that really stood out to me was that there are currently 116, 250 people living with AIDS in Florida. That's not just HIV, these people have full blown AIDS. It struck me so much because I have lived in Florida my entire life and have visited a lot of different cities. It made me wonder if I had ever met any of these people or just passed them by on the street. That was only one of the many, many statistics that stood out in my head. I encourage everyone to do a little research on it just to get a grasp on how serious it is.
Secondly, I wanted to learn a little more about HIV in children. This topic seems so heartbreaking to me because it is awful to have to see anyone suffer, especially children. Since I have only done a small amount of research on it, I just wanted to share some startling statistics that I found. I did a simple google search and found pages and pages of information on children with HIV. One particular website that I found to be extremely helpful was Avert. According to that website, at the end of 2007, 2 million children were living with HIV. A significant part of that 2 million will eventually die because of lack of treatment. This just made me incredibly sad and I look forward to doing more research to see what avenues are being taken to help these children.
Lastly, I wanted to share an organization called the Aids Health Project that helps HIV positive people cope with their situations. It is located in San Francisco, California and is a great place for HIV positive people to reach out to others and get help. The Aids Health Project offers many different support groups for many different people. Some of their groups cater to those living with HIV and also to those that are HIV-negative but are at risk. It is basically just a place to talk and meet other people but does not provide any other necessities such as food and shelter. Still, I know that if I was HIV positive I would really want a place where I could just reach out to someone and let them hear my story. I think it is a great organization. If anyone is interested in checking it out here is the link: http://www.ucsf-ahp.org/index.html
Talk to you next week!
Sara I totally agree with you in that I did not know much about HIV and AIDS. This course is great in that I am actually learning facts from credible sources rather then watching celebrities market their support groups. Furthermore, I had no idea how many children were infected with this disease. That number is outrageous and it makes me feel sad as well. I wish I could actually help the situation out, but have no idea what I could do. Anyways your blog was very informative.
ReplyDeleteHIV among children is truly heartbreaking. What is also interesting is how they acquire it. I am currently reading Surviving The Fall which is a memoir of an AIDS doctor. He expresses his experiences with many HIV positive patients who would get pregnant and want nothing more than to have that child. To the mothers, it didn’t matter if their child was positive or negative. However, the mother could be bringing a child in the world that would be faced with a rough road ahead.
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