December 1st is the anniversary of World A.I.D.S. day. More than 36.7 million people are living globally with H.I.V., the virus that causes A.I.D.S.
Although the H.I.V. virus was only discovered in the United States in 1984, over 35 million people have died of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and/or AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or late-stage HIV.) It remains one of the greatest pandemics in history. In the US, more than 1.1 million people are living with HIV, but www.HIV.gov estimates that 1 in 7 don’t even know they have the disease.
As a kid in the seventies and a teen in the eighties, I remember well the rise of the AIDS epidemic. It became a topic first discussed in hush-hush voices and erroneously referred to as “the gay disease,” as it first became apparent in the United States in gay men. Because of the stigma and taboo of homosexual activity in the 80s, and despite the wishes of the medical and scientific community, while activist groups like the Gay Men’s Health Crisis were desperate for help, President Reagan had yet to utter the word AIDS in public, thus keeping it out of the research budget and global spotlight as thousands died, something he later apologized for. By the time the 90s rolled around, President Clinton called for efforts to “turn back the tide of AIDS,” as tens of thousands died each year.
While HIV/AIDS in the U.S. was first found in gay men, the story of Ryan White, a young hemophiliac boy who contracted the disease through a blood transfusion, transfixed the nation. White wasn’t allowed to go back to school because of his AIDS diagnosis, and he and his mother fought for his right to do so, in the process leading to better education for the nation as a whole. As more information became available, more research was funded, and more medications were created; we had daily access to public service announcements that touched on everything from how you could get AIDS, to how you couldn’t get AIDS, to who had it, to who was fighting against it. Even a children’s channel like Nickelodeon had town halls about HIV/AIDS, inviting Magic Johnson, who had been diagnosed with HIV, and a group of both healthy and HIV positive children to talk about living with HIV. At the end, as the host asked anyone who was HIV positive to raise their hand, Hydeia Broadbent, a young girl with HIV, burst into tears. Before anti-retrovirals, there was no treatment or cure. (Thanks to modern medicines, Hydeia just passed her thirty-fourth birthday in June, and is an AIDS activist.)
With exposure, best practices for remaining safe from contracting HIV became the norm, and before you knew it, “safe sex” was smart sex and anything else was a death wish. As more research money poured in, HIV became, for Americans, a preventable and treatable disease—although there is no cure for HIV, the current treatments involve anti-retrovirals that allow for a longer, better quality of life without ever developing AIDS.
But despite great advances, as reported on hivplusmag.com, Alysa Remtulla of StopAIDS said, “there’s overwhelming evidence coming out of UNAIDS that we are off track to meet the 2020 targets on reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. If we miss these targets we risk also missing the Sustainable Development Goal of ending AIDS by 2030.” Former President Clinton, attending the International AIDS Conference this summer, cautioned, “If you don’t do anything else, I’d say don’t let anyone get complacent.”
There’s overwhelming evidence coming out of UNAIDS that we are off track to meet the 2020 targets on reducing new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths. If we miss these targets we also risk missing the Sustainable Developmental Goal of ending AIDS by 2030.
–Alysa Remtulla, StopAIDS
Last year, I volunteered as a cosplayer at a camp for children with or affected by HIV/AIDS. I work with cosplayers of all different backgrounds and ages. What surprised me most was that, while we had plenty of volunteers, we had many who asked if they could catch anything by hugging the children. It shocked me that there were people who didn’t know you can’t catch AIDS through casual contact. I can’t help but wonder if this is because the generation that grew up on Magic Johnson’s Nickelodeon episode and AIDS PSAs have all grown up, and made way for a younger generation that isn’t exposed daily to that same information. Gone is the constant barrage of HIV/AIDS reminders, and in their place we simply expect the newest generation to know the same things we learned without the benefit of having it front and center.
And with the loss of funding imminent in the current administration, things will only get worse, as public service announcements, safe sex education, and HIV education and services in poor communities all cost money. Today, on World A.I.D.S. Day, it’s important to refocus our efforts on having the conversation with a younger generation. According to the CDC, in 2016, 80% of youth diagnoses of HIV occurred in the age range of 20 to 24, and perhaps not so coincidentally, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 51% of young adults aged 18 to 30 showed misperceptions about HIV, creating stigmas around the disease that result in a lower percentage of testing. If we want to heed former President Clinton’s warning, and avoid becoming complacent, we must actively take part in educating our children, as well as the up-and-coming generation, by advocating for increased public funding (particularly in low-income areas), and removing the stigma of HIV/AIDS through open discussion, health education including safe sex education, and affordable healthcare.
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Photo: Alexxndr
To learn more about World A.I.D.S. Day: https://www.worldaidsday.org/
To learn more about H.I.V./A.I.D.S.: www.cdc.gov