ONe of the Many – Be a Citizen of the World
December 1, 2009 by omitunde
Filed under global culture, health
Today is World AIDS Awareness Day, it is important “everyday” that “everyone” knows “everything” they need to not become a victim of AIDS/HIV. Know your status! The impact of this epidemic has devastated communities worldwide and promoting awareness is the number one issue.
It seems that no matter how much is said about AIDS/HIV it continues to claim lives. Ignorance is perpetuated by discrimination and shame.
Don’t be fooled that you are exempt because you are careful all the time and you are not one of “those” people who practice risky behavior. All it takes is one incident of unprotected sex or a blood transfusion that is tainted and you will become one of the many.
Ask yourself, “What do you really know about the people you are intimate with?” As women we make assumptions that all is well when we get involved with someone. Do you ask the question “what is your status?” If you take their word for it without proof or get tested together –“you are risking your very life”.
Even if someone shows you the results of a test that has been recently taken, you must still protect yourself. People in general are too quick to get involved intimately without making sure they are not going to become a victim of an STD. They take it too lightly that it could never happen to them.
While there are women and children dying all over the world from being raped and infected with the AIDS virus with no hope of receiving treatment, here in the US, we have prevention and treatment available to us – but we don’t take it seriously. Some children become orphans when their mothers go untreated and die because they have no means of fighting back.
Please teach each other and the children in your families about the enormous impact of this epidemic. In other countries young women are raped because the men believe that having sex with a virgin will cure them of AIDS. Babies are being raped and infected and in most cases killed.
In the book “Half the Sky” – stories are told of more that the total number of the 80 million killed in the “slave trade” being victimized, infected, killed or left for dead in the “sex trafficking” tragedy. Don’t think that because these people are a half a world away that it does not affect you. It does! What happens to women and children in the world community also affects us.
As a citizens of the world, it our collective responsibility to do whatever we can to fight the epidemic of AIDS/HIV in the world.
