World AIDS Day 2007

It may seem virtually impossible to not see a red ribbon or several ad campaigns about HIV and Aids around December 1st. World Aids Day began in 1988 in an attempt to raise awareness, fight prejudice and educate the general public about HIV and Aids. The day has been recognized each year in order to remind people that the HIV and Aids is still around and affecting more people. World Aids Day was first organized by UNAIDS who chose to recognize the day each year with a theme. The themes were chosen in conjunction with other organizations in order to capture the true essence of what each year should be representative of. This year’s theme is leadership, which calls on various societies, families, and organizations to take personal action and responsibility toward being leaders for HIV and Aids. This theme is being used in conjunction with the slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise” by the World AIDS campaign, which has taken over the responsibility of making sure World AIDS Day is recognized.

The theme of leadership for this year’s World AIDS Day has been chosen as a global campaign. Although this theme is selected to embody what the year should be focused on in the fight against HIV and Aids, according to the World Aids Day Campaign website, campaigns based on national and community levels better focus on their constituents. The organization advises other organizations to highlight how Aids is affecting their particular community while using the theme and slogan to bring their effort together with the global message.

According to the organization, “I Stand with Magic”, this is exactly what it’s trying to do. The organization was started by former NBA star Ervin “Magic” Johnson who has been living with HIV for about fifteen years. Magic has used this organization to educate the African American community about the rapid increase of HIV and Aids among these groups of people. This is a program focused on empowering people to take a stand against HIV and Aids. It offers up-to-date information on issues such as education, awareness, protection and prevention and getting tested regularly.

According to the Center for Disease and Control, the HIV and Aids epidemic is a health crisis among African Americans. The Chicago Tribune reports that Aids is the number one cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. Over the past ten years approximately 40,000 people have become infected with the virus yearly. Similarly, about one out of four people in the US who are living with HIV are unaware of it. Likewise the largest growing population of people infected with HIV and Aids is African American women. African American women are 23 times more likely to contract Aids than White women according to the CDC. The Oprah Winfrey website reports that African American women are 72% of all new cases of women with HIV. Sixty-seven percent of African American women contract the virus through heterosexual relationships.

There have been several assumptions for the rapid increase of this disease among African American women. The CDC says substance use, not knowing one’s status, other sexually transmitted diseases, socioeconomic issues and concealing homosexual behavior are just some of the suspected determinants. One of the most prevalent and recent studies has been conducted on sexual risk factors and 48% of African American men in 2005 had reported male to male contact as the primary risk factor for them contracting HIV and Aids. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the CDC is examining one group called “men on the down low” to see how they could be spreading the infection among African American women.
The newspaper describes “men on the down low” as men who have sexual relations with other men in private, while keeping their heterosexual identity public. These men are suspected of passing HIV and Aids on to their wives and girlfriends. New York Times best selling author JL Kingappeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and others to promote his book that spoke out about prominent public figures that live “on the down low”. This was many people’s first knowledge of the group because it is often kept a secret. An article in the San Francisco Chronicle reports that men that practice this type of lifestyle find it difficult to tell people about their homosexual relationships because of the stigma attached to being gay. According to the Aids Institute in Los Angeles, many of these men don’t identify with being gay even though they have private relationships with men. These men have been exposed and deemed as living double lives. The CDC is currently conducting five studies that are among the first to examine how White, African American, Asian and Latino men fit the “down low” profile and determine whether or not this has a role in infecting women with HIV.

According to David Bloom, a professor at Harvard University, another alleged contributing factor the high rate of African American women being infected with Aids could be the resurgence of previously incarcerated African American men into the community. Several cases have shown that some African American men have entered prison HIV negative but return to civil society HIV positive. When these men are released they return to relationships with women.

Aids continues to be a hightened subject of debate in both social and political settings. The government has proposed The United States President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief to disperse medical support out to various countries. Although global efforts seem to be one of the main focuses of World AIDS Day, HIV and Aids is still on the rise locally. According to the Aids Community Resource Center in Syracuse New York, New York State continues to have the largest population of individuals living HIV and Aids. Although financial support has been cut for the state in programs such as the Ryan White Care Act, local organizations are still mobilizing to raise awareness among the general public. According to ACR, the fight against Aids requires the effortsof all people, and as an organization it will continue to provide prevention, education and support services to those infected and affected by Aids. Aids is no longer “their” problem but is now a problem that could potential affect us all.