One of the top killers in the world is brought to light in December for National AIDS Awareness Month.
National and local organizations have various events planned to raise awareness.
Houston is ranked 8th in the nation with the highest number of citizens suffering from AIDS, according to AIDS Foundation Houston. Worldwide, 40 million people are HIV/AIDS positive, with 1 million living in the U.S. alone and 23,007 in Houston since 1981.
The demographic is getting younger, with 4,289 new diagnoses in Houston given since 1999 to individuals under 30 years old, 585 of whom are under the age of 18. According to the AFH, two new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, affect youths under the age of 18 in Houston every day.
Coming on the heels of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, AIDS Awareness Month will continue to support women since illnesses that turn into or result from AIDS are together the number one cause of death and sickness in women, according to a 2009 report by the World Health Organization.
The women included in the study were of reproductive age and hailed from middle-income nations. They were found to be less knowledgeable about the risks of unsafe sex.
Only 38 percent were aware of the steep risks of such activity and how it is directly linked to transmission of HIV.
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is determined to meet its goal for the year 2015 of not only stopping the spread of the virus, but also starting to reverse its damages.
UNAIDS started World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, 1988, as a dedication to increasing awareness of the disease. Since then, the month has become nationally recognized as a period in which supporters of the cause wear a symbolic red ribbon, learn about how the disease affects their communities today, inform younger generations about methods of prevention and volunteer at events taking place across the country to further the cause.
‘Our aim is to see a marked decrease in the number of cases of (the desease),’ Sarita Sehgal, a UNAIDS spokesperson, said. ‘Our theme of universal access this year is going to help (us) reach this goal. Already, 111 countries have set their own targets in reaching universal access for HIV treatment and prevention.’
The AFH, a nonprofit organization founded in 1982, strives to influence Houston’s social circles with knowledge about AIDS.
As the first group in Texas to focus entirely on educating about AIDS through city events and services, AFH holds an annual luncheon on World AIDS Day. The event takes place the first Tuesday of December at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston.
The AFH has also hosted AIDS Walk Houston for two decades, with its 20th annual kickoff in spring 2010, allowing thousands of supporters to walk for the cause. The walk’s proceeds will go toward helping the organization support further events and other AIDS-related service groups that donate the money to AIDS carriers to help with disease management.
UH-Clear Lake will showcase an art exhibition for World AIDS Day to highlight 2009’s theme of ‘Universal Access and Human Rights.’ It will feature six two-dimensional art pieces in Atrium II, Level II of the Bayou Building on the UH-Clear Lake campus.
Julie Smith, coordinator for women’s and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender services at UH-Clear Lake, said the use of art for public health campaigns is important for reaching every demographic.
‘Art often speaks to people in a way that facts and statistics do not. This was the reason for hosting an art contest to honor World AIDS Day rather than simply putting out an informational display,’ Smith said. ‘This contest was both an opportunity for artists to display their art and to help educate people about the struggles faced in the fight against AIDS.’
A painting by artist Maricela Lopez displays two multi-cultured hands.
‘It symbolizes that our triumph over this disease can begin when we see past skin color and accept all people as our equals,” Lopez said.
Artist Kristina Jantz created ‘Tonya Down the Street’ as an ode to a neighbor who died from AIDS complications. It shows how human cells change at the introduction of the disease.
‘The goal of my work is to introduce people to a world so small most do not think about it until they absolutely must,’ Jantz said. ‘To me, the microscopic level of the disease is really what is of most importance. If the scientific community can better understand how the virus interacts with human cells ‘hellip; they will be able to develop a usable vaccine and possibly even a cure to be administrated worldwide.’
The two artworks reveal how it is important to educate people about the realities of the epidemic as early as possible, to avoid a slew of misinformation.
‘My understanding of (my neighbor’s) death, at the time, was more of a non-understanding because STDs were a foreign concept not really taught in the classrooms, except for in passing terms,’ Jantz said.
The exhibition shows the works as judged by a graphic design professor, a counselor for a chronic illness support group and UH-Clear Lake staff members. A reception open to the public will be held for the contestants from 6 to 7:30 p.m Nov. 30, to kick off the exhibition’s display through Dec. 22.
Mark Cichocki, a nurse educator for the University of Michigan’s HIV/AIDS Treatment Program, said in a forum for the Medical Review Board that one of the biggest misconceptions about AIDS is that either it is the same as HIV, or that they are completely unrelated.
Both notions are incorrect, as HIV is a virus that battles an individual’s immune system, rendering the body increasingly unable to sufficiently ward off internal disease and infection.
AIDS, in turn, is the result of an HIV infection that has damaged the immune system past the point of reversal to a healthy state. According to the AFH Web site, it often takes many years for HIV to invade the immune system enough to finally be detected in a blood test as AIDS.
Cichocki also said another misconstrued idea is that sharing breathing space, close physical proximity or touching, such as kissing or hugging, will infect an individual with HIV/AIDS.
The truth is that there are only three ways to transmit the disease, none of the aforementioned included. The virus is passed solely through bodily fluids, which can enter another person’s body by having unprotected sex, sharing tainted drug or tattoo needles, or from a mother to a fetus or breast-fed baby.
Houston-based organizations work hard to encourage more people to get tested and to educate the younger generations about how to get treated sooner using different types of new media.
‘(We use) text messaging to promote their educational and social events, primarily to African American men who have sex with men,’ Jeffrey Campbell of the St. Hope Foundation told AIDS.gov directors in a blog about the 2009 U.S. Conference on AIDS.
MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have also proved to be effective outlets for relaying important information.
UH nursing junior Marina Lozitsky thinks that using new tools to attract supporters and educate the affected is a great idea.
‘(Using new media) to get people to listen, to tell everyone about events to support in the city for AIDS and really debunk myths that are always floating around, I think it’s the most effective way to reach any demographic, actually,’ Lozitsky said.
