One of the ways we talk about HIV AIDS is about those people who are currently poz or have an AIDS diagnosis - but we also talk about those people "affected" by the pandemic. Usually the assumption is that "affected" applies to family and friends who know someone who is currently HIV poz or has an AIDS diagnosis or who has died as a result of complications due to AIDS.
Nothing could be further from the truth. No matter if you have never lost a partner, friend or co-worker to AIDS you are still "affected" by what is currently a global pandemic. AIDS is not going away. New HIV infections are increasing here in the US, daily. Globally the picture is even more grim.
HIV/AIDS affects us all - in the high cost of loss of life and productivity globally, in the skyrocketing costs of treatment and the related greed of Big Pharma. The food international food supply is declining as more and more small farmers succumb.
This pandemic has affected the way whole generations deal with sexual activity. In the past the most you might have had to worry about was syphilis or a dose of the clap, or perhaps an unwanted pregnancy. Since the advent of HIV/AIDS that has all changed.
The politics surrounding AIDs has fueled the rabid homophobia of right-wing religious groups, as well as increasing stigmatization of specific demographic groups - like Haitians.
This, coupled by religious zealots dialing back access to sex education and prevention is a critical situation right here at home.
The TM tends to focus on AIDS in Africa and Asia - if it pays much attention at all, but folks here in the US need to wake up and smell the cocktail.
Avert has a good overview of AIDS in America
Since the beginning of the HIV and AIDS epidemic well over half a million people have died of AIDS in America – the equivalent of the entire population of Las Vegas. There are currently more than one million people living with HIV and AIDS in America and around a fifth of these are unaware of their infection, posing a high risk of onward transmission.
America’s response to the AIDS epidemic has produced mixed results. HIV prevention efforts have not always been successful and in 2009 approximately 54,000 Americans were infected with HIV. In March 2009 Washington DC reported an HIV prevalence of at least 3% among people over 12 years - similar to rates in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa
....
Stigma and discrimination towards HIV positive people still persist and thousands of uninsured Americans struggle to access good HIV care and antiretroviral therapy. The world’s biggest donor of AIDS-related funding is itself facing a major, ongoing AIDS epidemic.
This document is well worth reading - in toto, but I want to highlight certain data.
HIV/AIDS is increasing among seniors.
The geographic distribution is changing:
(dark brown areas indicate highest, peach the lowest)
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in America was once concentrated mainly in the gay populations on the East and West coasts. However, in recent years AIDS has become increasingly prevalent within black and Latino communities in many Southern states as well as certain urban areas in the Northeast and Westcoast. The map (above) shows which states had the highest number of people living with AIDS in 2007, relative to the population of each state
In 2010, a report criticised the response to the AIDS epidemic in the 17 states in "the South". According to the report, a combination of socioeconomic conditions and state laws and policies means that this region is disproportionately affected by the epidemic; half of all people living with HIV live in the South although this region is home to just over a third of the population. Poverty, poor access to healthcare relative to the rest of the country, a focus on abstinence based sex education, and laws that criminalise HIV transmission and restrict harm reduction programmes for IDUs are some of the factors which explain why the risk of becoming infected with HIV and dying from AIDS is highest in the South. A study examining data from across the country also found that, for socioeconomic reasons, nonwhite men and particularly nonwhite women residing in the South experience the worst clinical outcomes after being diagnosed with HIV.
High risk behaviors are increasing among men who have sex with men, along with those of heterosexual men and women in black and latino communities.
I'm not going to write much more at the moment - this diary is simply an outreach tool to call attention to the fact that Daily Kos did not have a community addressing HIV/AIDS at all.
Plf515, my friend and former co-worker who has an extensive background of working in HIV/AIDS related research and intervention has joined in this effort.
If you have an interest in becoming an editor, or contributor, or have written a diary that we could re-publish here please make let me know in comments.
We will be addressing topic areas that include but are not limited to:
AIDS in communities of color
AIDS in the LBGTQ communities
Women and AIDS
AIDS treatment
AIDS and Big Pharma
AIDS interventions
Pediatric AIDS
Seniors at risk for AIDS
AIDS and health care reform
AIDS in the global economy, including the food supply
AIDS and sex education
AIDS and sex work
Rape and AIDS
AIDS in prison
AIDS and religion
AIDS and Harm Reduction/Syringe Exchange
AIDS activism and grassroots organizing
AIDS and legislation
AIDs and stigma
AIDS and funding
Please help us by submitting links to groups, activities and events that you are aware of who are part of the ongoing efforts to fight the spread of the virus.
Join Us.
Fight Back!
Silence Equals Death.