Of late you don't really hear about HIV/AIDS in the UK. Slowly the public perception of HIV/AIDS has moved from a homosexual problem to an African problem. That, sadly, is not the case. The tragedy playing out in Africa is just the worst sign of a global epidemic. HIV/AIDS is here in the United Kingdom. Around 5000 people are being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS each and every year. Right here in our country. 5000! Who hears about this? No one.
And the young gay men of this country are not being educated about HIV/AIDS. Was I educated about it at school? A little, I went to a good school after all. But mainly when it came to the homosexual side of things I had to educate myself. I don't want to blow my own trumpet but I'm not a fool. I know lots of gay men who didn't even know what Section 28 was back during it's controversial existence. How many young gay men understand that every time they have unprotected sex they are playing with fire? Even I've had a lot of unprotected sex, I am very ashamed to admit. But I did get tested during my fun filled youth. If we don't act, and act NOW, then our community faces decimation. AIDS victims may not look as ill as they used to... but it's still a death sentence.
It's not just homosexuals at risk, ethnic minorities are a growing section of the population being hit. It's been 20 years since the last (terrifying) Government push against AIDS. Time to scare people again...
On a lighter note the line up for Making Your Mind Up (the UKs Eurovision artist selection show) has been announced. Forget the headline grabbing lead singer from the Darkness, read down the article. SCOOCH have reformed! Oh my GOD! Flying the Flag (For You). God Bless Them. Love you Scooch. But Brits won't choose you. :( Here is my fave Scooch song...
We've got the same problem here in The Netherland; when you hear/read something about Aids, it's more often then not related to the third world.
ReplyDeletePeople seem much less scared of HIV nowadays because of the medications. And as a result of the there are more and more infections in The Netherlands. How foolish.
Over here, it's young women in my age group (18-35, I think, is the bracket) who are the fastest growing group of people contracting HIV. And while you can read this stat, there aren't so much HIV/AIDS education campaigns targeting these women as there are HPV education campaigns.
ReplyDeleteI can't help wondering if the only reason why they're bothering with the HPV campaigns is because there's a vaccine--which covers only certain strains of HPV, not all of them--against it now. Every ad about HPV mentions the vaccine, urges us to get vaccinated. Big Pharm doesn't want to educate us; it just wants our money. Does that sound too cynical?