NationStates Jolt Archive

Because I live on the other side of the world, and it's going to be midnight soon, so I wish you all Happy Aids Day!

Because I live on the other side of the world, and it's going to be midnight soon, so I wish you all Happy Aids Day!

Oh shit, I forgot. Indeed. Happy World AIDS Day.

www.stopaidscampaign.org.uk

There's a US equivalent as well somewhere.

Give generously. You get a nifty red ribbon..

Fortunately, I get to work in the casino today. Where people will blow enough money to cure aids by lunchtime. :(

Fortunately, I get to work in the casino today. Where people will blow enough money to cure aids by lunchtime. :(

Hey, I am looking for a partner to steal a casino, are you up to it? We can donate the money to someone who is trying to cure AIDS. I just wanna steal a casino 4 fun.

Fortunately, I get to work in the casino today. Where people will blow enough money to cure aids by lunchtime. :(
Leaving you the afternoon to catch it all over again.

Do visit the website. You can see the nifty Blair-ometer.

70% of the people in sub-sahara Africa are infected....there is no stopping it.

70% of the people in sub-sahara Africa are infected....there is no stopping it.
PMA, Biff, PMA.

This is the way to do it. (http://bwanabomba.blogspot.com/2004/11/redbrick-article-primary-school-event.html)

PMA, Biff, PMA.

This is the way to do it. (http://bwanabomba.blogspot.com/2004/11/redbrick-article-primary-school-event.html)

That and lobbying Governments/donating money/volunteering for good organisations like SPW (http://www.spw.org).

Yes, and India is next.....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6622110/

Happy aids day! *Dies*

Or am I too late... :rolleyes:

Fixes hearing aid ...

Happy aids day!

Happy "I Don't Have AIDS" Day !!!

*scratches* Now about this herpes...

Happy "I Don't Have AIDS" Day !!!

*scratches* Now about this herpes...

LOL

I heard a news report about AIDS in Southwestern China today. The reporter interviewed two people infected with the virus. One said he was afraid to eat with his children because he thought it could be transmitted that way. Another said he'd been sharing needles and using discarded needles and didn't know how AIDS was transmitted. How can it be that in this day and age there are people who are still so ignorant about preventative measures? I even heard a while back that AIDS infected men in some parts of Africa were raping little girls because there was a rumor that sex with a virgin could cure AIDS.

I heard a news report about AIDS in Southwestern China today. The reporter interviewed two people infected with the virus. One said he was afraid to eat with his children because he thought it could be transmitted that way. Another said he'd been sharing needles and using discarded needles and didn't know how AIDS was transmitted. How can it be that in this day and age there are people who are still so ignorant about preventative measures? I even heard a while back that AIDS infected men in some parts of Africa were raping little girls because there was a rumor that sex with a virgin could cure AIDS.

Poor rural areas in any part of the world are like that. No edumication leading to catastrophe.

Happy AIDS day. I actually know 2 people who do have AIDS, and its sad...because they really are genuine people...it was just unfortunate that they weren't safe about everything. I'm going to miss them when they're gone...

70% of the people in sub-sahara Africa are infected....there is no stopping it.


it is actually 30%. Still enormous, cause most of them will die in a few years.

Because I live on the other side of the world, and it's going to be midnight soon, so I wish you all Happy Aids Day!

What's so friggin' happy about it?

Fortunately, I get to work in the casino today. Where people will blow enough money to cure aids by lunchtime. :(


And then they can cure old age tomorrow. Money can solve the whole worlds problems..


Am I the only one to think that 'Happy Aids Day' is a bit inapropriate? like "Happy 9-11 Day".

it is actually 30%. Still enormous, cause most of them will die in a few years.
30%? Somehow I doubt that. It's some 25 million in Africa. Nigeria alone has some 170 million inhabitants.

Am I the only one to think that 'Happy Aids Day' is a bit inapropriate? like "Happy 9-11 Day".
No, it's not inappropriate. World Aids Day is about raising awareness and celebrating what we have, and can do, to stop the spread of HIV. If that's not happy, I don't know what is.

It's very disheartening to see the defeatist attitude I've seen on the two Aids threads, particularly in the other thread. Statements like "there's no stopping it" and "the UN have washed their hands of Aids" are at best, utter bullshit.

Go to rural Africa, and UNICEF are everywhere. Granted, I think they spend too much money on the work, but that's a question of methodology. The organisation I was volunteering with in Tanzania was SPW (http://www.spw.org), and their whole ethos included the need to do the work as cheaply as possible.

This wasn't because they're a skinflint NGO, but because the hope is that the villagers will continue a programme of peer education after we left. If we show that work can be done effectively off little or no money, the chances of that happening increase greatly. If there is no sustainability, whatever money you did spend may as well have been burnt to keep everyone in the village warm for the night.

That's not to say that UNICEF's work isn't effective, because they can achieve things on a scale that SPW never could. I wouldn't want to give you the impression that I think they're rubbish. My main thrust, I suppose, is that it doesn't cost much to combat the spread of HIV.

The main obstacles to tackling HIV are:

1. Ignorance - most people do know that it is mainly transmitted through sex, and that they can stop it by using a condom. But they don't know how to use a condom properly, and there are so many myths flying around that they don't know what to believe.

2. Lack of openness in the community - everybody knows it happens, but it's not polite conversation, which only perpetuates the ignorance above.

3. Lack of women's rights - this is one of the harder things to tackle. Women do all (well, most of) the work in the home and on the shamba (farm), but they have no financial control or financial independence, making them vulnerable to exploitation. It's also the husbands who decide when they have sex. Polygamy is another factor in this issue.

4. Lack of children's rights - the Iringa region in Tanzania is the biggest single supplier of child domestic workers (housegirls) to Dar Es Salaam, the main city in Tanzania. Every bus from Iringa to Dar is estimated to carry one girl going to find work in the city. They are promised a continuation of education and enough money to send home to their family. All crap, of course. They often end up on the streets as prostitutes, sometimes even taking HIV back to their village.

Add to this, again, a lack of financial independence, and a desperation to get an education, and young girls are particularly vulnerable to businessmen who offer to pay their school fees. Myths like the one already mentioned (having sex with a virgin will get rid of HIV, and you can't get HIV or pregnant the first time you have sex), and young girls are the single most vulnerable group.

We (my volunteer partner and I) spent five months in a village, teaching in the local primary school and community, organising events and festivals, helping set up small income generation projects for the target groups (youth and women), setting up an information library and a youth action group (who were doing most of the work by the time we left), holding workshops with the group, the teachers and the village leaders, setting up sports leagues, etc, etc.

The difference we could see in people, particularly in the school kids, was phenomenal. When someone says to you, "You pray to God to come and help you, but he doesn't come. Instead, he sends someone like you," you can't take the attitude that you're not helping someone to make a difference to their own lives.

Look at other African countries, like Uganda, one of the first countries to take the threat of HIV seriously, and you see how they've things turn around. Yes, there are others who continue to deny that it is a problem, but you realise that it's never too late.

So no, I'm afraid "there's no stopping it" holds no weight with me.

http://bwanabomba.blogspot.com/2004/11/redbrick-article-primary-school-event.html
http://www.spw.org
http://www.stopaidscampaign.org.uk

I even heard a while back that AIDS infected men in some parts of Africa were raping little girls because there was a rumor that sex with a virgin could cure AIDS.

Wait... that's not true?

Well, bump, then. Think this deserves a little longer on the front page.

Wait... that's not true?
Unfortunately it is.

Unfortunately it is.
Um, I think he was joking about the rumour not being true, not questioning the existence of the rumour.

Um, I think he was joking about the rumour not being true, not questioning the existence of the rumour.
*runs away in embarassment at missing the joke*

http://www.avert.org/statindx.htm
http://www.avert.org/worlstatinfo.htm

Here's a very good website about AIDS Statistics. Unfortunately.. most stats I can find is year end 2002, or 2003, and an estimate of 2004.

Estimate Aids patients in USA is about 1.6 million to 470,000. Most unknown of their disease.

About 400k lives with the disease. Among them.

37% were white
42% were black
20% were Hispanic
1% were of other race/ethnicity.
Of the 298,248 men (13 years or older) who were living with AIDS,

58% were men who had sex with men (MSM)
23% were injection drug users (IDU)
10% were exposed through heterosexual contact
8% were both MSM and IDU.
Of the 82,764 adult and adolescent women with AIDS,

61% were exposed through heterosexual contact
36% were exposed through injection drug use.
An estimated 3,893 children were living with AIDS at the end of 2002.

Don't go to Botswana, Swaziland. 1/3 of the people have AIDS.

Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Central African Republic. are close. With nearly 1/5 people have AIDS.


Shit man. This is depressing. :(

http://www.avert.org/aidsuganda.htm (Someone mentioned Uganda just now)

I'm happy that my church has a programme there to help sick people suffering from AIDS.
There must be more to be done in other parts of Africa.