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December 1st is recognized as World AIDS Day. You may see red ribbons everywhere and now you know why! Last year I didn’t think about World AIDS Day until the actual day. Until April of 2008 AIDS meant nothing to me more than the average nurse: signs and symptoms, ways it is transmitted and concern over needle sticks at work. Now AIDS is the reason I have two of my children. AIDS is the reason that many of us are adopting Internationally. There are millions of children orphaned by this disease. Millions of parents dead, leaving children to live on their own or with other family members.
What can we do as parents and citizens of this world to chip away at the problem that is AIDS? There are many things to do, from donating money to finding a cure or providing medications for those who are sick to adopting a child who lost his/her parents to AIDS or a child who has HIV. Of course those are pretty big undertakings that are not practical for most people. So what are some simple things we can do?
Get educated about HIV and AIDS It astounds me that many people remain ignorant about how HIV is transmitted. People living in the US and other developed countries can expect to live a long life if they are on medication and are under a doctors care. Women who are HIV + are giving birth to HIV- children. A lot has changed since the early 1980’s and the general public hasn’t kept up with those changes.
Remember that HIV and AIDS are still a problem Since we in the US have so many new medications and HIV is considered a chronic desease now, many people discount that HIV is a problem in the world. The facts are that many underdeveloped nations do not have the medication, tests and medical services that we have. In a lot of countries HIV is still considered taboo to talk about, let alone be treated for. These countries are the places with the AIDS orphan crisis that is going on right now.
On this day of awareness I hope we all take a few minutes to evaluate what we can do to stop this epidemic of AIDS, especially those of us who are parents of children affected by HIV and AIDS.
AHOPEFORCHILDREN.org (HIV in Ethiopia)
*These web sites are recommended for educational purposes and I don’t have any affiliation with them.
