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GUEST COLUMN |
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Spread the Message
for Prevention
George W. Russell |
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Living in New York in the 1980s
I used to hear about many acquaintances of my friends
infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I felt
to be somewhat different. I didn't personally know anyone
affected. Not unlike my ignorance of the rules of American
football, this arcane virus made me feel left out of café
conversations. It was hard to empathise with the challenges
the epidemic, mysterious at that time, had brought in
its wake.
It wasn't until my first mission in the developing world,
when I moved to Jakarta in 1999, I saw first-hand the
challenges the virus brought. I was often called to write
about HIV/AIDS from the layman's viewpoint. I am a writer,
a journalist, not a scientist, and while it was sometimes
difficult at first to |
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| grasp the jargon and technical
words used by epidemiologists and statisticians, there was no
doubting the fear on the faces of those affected: People with
HIV/AIDS who had lost their jobs and been evicted from their
homes, those close to death who had been dumped on the doorsteps
of temples, or the wandering orphans who had no idea what had
happened to their young parents. |
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| In Indonesia, and later Vietnam
and Cambodia, I visited innumerable brothels, drug dens, hospitals,
hospices and clinics. I've held the hands of people dying with
AIDS-related diseases, demonstrated correct (and incorrect)
condom use to raucous laughter, and listened to heartless harangues
of theologians opposed to sex education. In between, my scribbled
notes and piles of data have resulted in innumerable reports,
brochures and articles, aimed mostly at the largely uncomprehending
public or sceptical politicians. Maybe one or two have helped
save or extend a program here and there, or assisted laymen
(like me) to understand some of the finer points of HIV/AIDS
prevention and care. |
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| More importantly, I think, I have
done my very little bit to highlight HIV/AIDS awareness. The
media-and the public-have a short attention span. Those involved
in HIV/AIDS issues have done extremely well to keep the epidemic
at the forefront of the public health stage for more than two
decades. But interest has waned: SARS and avian flu, dengue
fever and bovine spongiform encephalopathy have all had their
moments in recent months. Even though they have affected a relatively
tiny number of people compared with HIV/AIDS, their spread and
identification was rapid. The death and disability these diseases
cause also leave in their wake grieving families, confused victims,
frustrated caregivers and an angry public. Furthermore, such
conditions don't come with the emotional baggage of HIV/AIDS
and its associations with drug use, sex work and men having
sex with men. |
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| Nevertheless, the message has to be maintained.
The people that many would like to shield from such topics as
HIV are often the most vulnerable to infection. New UNAIDS figures
suggest that increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections
in Western Europe, primarily among young heterosexuals, indicates
a resurgence of unsafe sexual practices. |
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| In Asia, Africa and Latin America, where resources
are scarcer and communication less effective, a return to recklessness
and ignorance could herald another disaster. HIV/AIDS can destroy
the individual, the spirit, and the backbone of a nation. We
must never lose sight of its damaging potential. To do that,
we must ever be vigilant. |
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| (All the views expressed in this column are entirely
that of the author) |
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About
the Author |
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