December 1 is World AIDS Day. On this date each year, organizations and individuals from around the world work together to call attention to the global AIDS crisis.
Fortunately, much progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We've seen the development of antiretroviral treatments that can allow HIV-positive individuals to lead relatively normal lives for years or decades. And, according to the UNAIDS 2008 Report, funding has been steadily increasing for HIV programs in developing countries, and the global epidemic is starting to stabilize, albeit at an unacceptably high level.
Despite these advances, however, much work remains. We must continuously urge our respective governments to keep on funding AIDS research, education, and relief efforts, both domestically and globally.
And, perhaps just as importantly, we need to keep working to fight the stigma and discrimination related to HIV.
Whenever I write about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, I hear from ultra-conservative folks who still believe that AIDS is a "gay disease", and is God's punishment for "choosing" to live the "gay lifestyle".
To the reasonable person, of course, that assertion is ridiculous. After all, women and children account for a sizable percentage of new HIV infections worldwide.
But the "religious" extremists will not let the facts get in the way of their bigotry.
Sadly, as long as the stigma remains, I fear that HIV/AIDS will not get the serious attention it deserves from those in power who seek to appease the religious right. Case in point: Sarah Palin, who advocates for abstinence-only sex education (as opposed to safe-sex education), and whose own teenage daughter is now pregnant. (Coincidence?) They say they care, even as they fight to keep condoms out of the high schools.
We have our work cut out for us.
We need to get active and stay active.
How many more innocent men, women, children, and teens must die of AIDS because too many people in power believe the silly notion that it's God's punishment for "immorality"?
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