12/2/09

World AIDS Day

Yesterday (Dec. 1) was World AIDS Day. I would have done a post on this earlier, but I spent the majority of the day at the hospital waiting for my dad to get out of surgery (he's doing fine btw).

The prevention of AIDS, as well as its effect on the black community, are issues that are near and dear to my heart. I've addressed the epidemic previously on this blog, in the posts Well this is scary... and Nadja Benaissa.

Even though only one day a year is allotted to discussing AIDS and its global impact, I think its an issue that should be addressed year-round, and regularly. Especially if you're living in areas greatly affected by the disease, such as DC.

We rarely hear of severe HIV/AIDS infections outside of those affecting third world countries, and the cases we do hear about (i.e. Magic Johnson) seem to be easily remedied with a cocktail of medications. This leads to a misconception that HIV/AIDS probably isn't as serious a disease as it was when it was first discovered in 1981.

FALSE.

As far as we've come in terms of understanding the disease, I'd still be absolutely devastated if I received a positive result on my yearly HIV/AIDS test. Although we know a lot more about the disease and how to control its symptoms now, one still has to deal with the social stigma of being diagnosed as HIV-positive. Also, there are medications to control the symptoms of HIV/AIDS, but please believe they cost a pretty penny. And not everyone is "Magic Johnson-status" with their paychecks, you dig?

Anyways. Just reminding you guys this VERY SERIOUS EPIDEMIC is entirely preventable, provided you take the proper precautions for YOUR health and the health of your loved ones.

*Trufax: HIV/AIDS is dead serious y'all but I thought I'd share this light-hearted little anecdote. I once met a dude while we were waiting for our results at the AIDS testing place set up at my school one year. The beauty of it was, we both found out we were negative, so it starts the relationship off on a good note, lol.