I know that December 1st is still one hour away for me here in South Africa but I wanted the post to be up all day. This post originally appeared in my blog on December 1, 2006 when I was studying in Rotterdam but is even more poignant now that I am living in South Africa. South Africa has the largest AIDS prevalence on Earth with an estimated 25% of the population infected. Yet the subject remains unspoken in most circles and is not one which is particularly dwelled upon by the government. The post appeared as follows:
"Ask yourself if you know anyone who has died of AIDS. Probably not, right? When Prof. Hey asked my Advanced Public International Law class, of 80 international students this question, no one's hand went up. She then went on to tell us about a trip to Ghana in which she visited a highschool and was shocked to find pages In Memorial to Students who had died of AIDS in the past year. Shocked she enquired to a school official who informed her that 25% of the School's population had died that year."
Many people continue to needlessly die in developing countries because they cannot access Anti Retroviral Treatments. The impact goes far beyond that as children lose their parents and are left orphaned in the streets and other children fail to thrive because they cannot access food and medicine. In Pretoria, the Methodist City Mission continues to provide food to individuals on ARTs even when their foodstores are bare so they may continue to survive.
Why do we continue to ignore this problem when there's so much more that we could be doing to help? So today, more than any other day, wear a red ribbon, educate yourself and spread awareness about the disease and its global impact.
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