Black AIDS Awareness Day

[Poetic_Princess]

Black AIDS Awareness Day 2004 which is recognized on February 7th it is a day for all young and older blacks whether male or female to go out get tested and educated about Aids.

The AIDS epidemic is devastating the Black community it is tearning it apart from the youngest to the oldest, from the rich to the poor.
"Statistics show that African Americans have been disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic’s beginning,” says Dr. John Robertson, executive director, of National Black Alcoholism and Addictions Council,

AIDS is the leading cause of death for African Americans between the ages of 25 and 44. While African Americans represent approximately 12 percent of the U.S. population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that they account for more than 38 percent of the nation’s AIDS cases.

And if we continue to live our lives the wrong way and not get tested and not get educated about this disease more and more of us would die and so will our race.

So I am urging all of you whether young or old to get tested today, tomorrow sometimes soon just get tested to know where u stand in this race of this epidemic created by another mankind which predominately no cure can be found.

[ARDIN]

The Black AIDS Awareness Day should and must be a matter of day to day, day after day, not only one day out of 365 days in a year!!!

[Poetic_Princess]

It is up to us to take it to heart and to choose to make it a part of us and our day to day activites in all benefit to stop the spread of this disease and slow down this epidemic.

Much Blessings

[Poetic_Princess]

Blessings and Hotep

This day is a very important day and I can't stress enough how important it is for persons to go get tested, I know your maybe afraid or even thinking no you can't have it and no it can't happen for you,Honestly all who think like that must wake up and smell the coffee literally because this disease was created by man to eliminate our species it wasn't created for a dog or anything lesser than us so we must wake up and fight against it just dont sit and scorn people who have it cause you think in your head they got it from living reckless,cause babies dont get aids cause of their recklessness,neither do persons who have blood transfusions so don't scron or discriminate.If you dont get tested this epidemic would get rid of our future and the younger generation to come forth.

So Get Tested and Help Fight Against this Epidemic!

Facts:
HIV/AIDS in South Africa

The Country:South Africa
Region: Southern Africa
Capital City: Pretoria
Area: 471,010 sq mi; almost twice the size of Texas
Life Expectancy: 44 years
Population: 46.4 million, 75 percent Black

The low down on HIV/AIDS in South Africa:
HIV Infected: 5.3 million
AIDS Deaths: 370,000
AIDS Orphans: 1.1 million

An estimated 5.3 million South Africans were HIV-positive in 2003, according to a study conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council. Nearly half of all men and over one-third of women over 15 years of age, reports the Council, say they have changed their behavior as a result of HIV/AIDS, including being faithful to one partner, reducing the number of sexual partners, abstinence and use of a condom.

But statistics hardly ever tell the whole story.  Read this firsthand account of how one South African student, now studying Political Science in the United States views the HIV/AIDS situation in his country:

Lionel; Johannesburg, South Africa--When I finished grade school the epidemic hadn’t really hit, but now I see a difference. There are a lot of orphanages because a lot of parents are dying and leaving their children.  

There seems to be the perception in the West that South Africans are dropping like flies, but that’s not the case. The reality is that HIV/AIDS is very much concentrated in poor and rural areas in South Africa. There you’ll find men with a traditional way of thinking and condoms just don’t fit into it. HIV/AIDS is a problem of poverty. It will always be a problem as long as there is poverty.

In South Africa, prevention is everywhere-- on television and in the media. There’s a show called Soul City that is very popular. The show is sponsored by the department of health and is intended to spread the word of prevention. There are characters in other shows who will speak Zulu, so locals will understand and there might be a plot on a soap opera where, say there is a couple infected with HIV and they want to have a baby—but here in the U.S., if there are still arguments about whether or not sex education should be taught in schools, how can you really begin an open dialogue about HIV?

The government in South Africa uses TV shows and pamphlets, and condoms are available everywhere in the big cities, like Johannesburg, but they have to get the message out there to the rural areas in the middle of nowhere.  Not only do they have to do that, but they also have to figure out a way to get the medications out there. A “Washington D.C.” or a “New York” isn’t that much different from a “Johannesburg”, but “rural” in South Africa is very much different than “rural” in the Western world.

Source: National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention Global AIDS Program, Centers for Disease Control and the CIA World Fact book

HIV/AIDS In Haiti
The Country:Haiti
Region: Caribbean
Capital City: Port-au-Prince
Area: 27,750 sq km; about the size of Maryland
Life Expectancy: 52 years
Population: 8.3 million, 95 percent Black

The low down on HIV/AIDS in Haiti:
HIV Infected: 216,000
AIDS Deaths: 30,000
AIDS Orphans: 200,000

Out of all of the countries in the Caribbean, Haiti is the most highly affected by HIV/AIDS. The small island nation, along with the Dominican Republic, accounts for 85 percent of all AIDS cases in the region. Heterosexual transmission is the most common vehicle of HIV/AIDS transmission, followed by mother-to-child transmission. There are approximately 11,300 HIV-positive women delivering children each year, with 3,970 more babies born infected with HIV/AIDS annually.

But statistics hardly ever tell the whole story.  Read the firsthand account of what one African American of Haitian descent saw on a trip back to her homeland:

Vanessa, Massachusetts--Haiti in most eyes, despite the issue of AIDS is already considered a very desolate area in terms of poverty and political warfare, so when AIDS is thrown into the equation, its hard to truly differentiate between what is effecting whom and to what extent.  On one of my visits to the country, I distinctly remember running into a frail young man on the street that, out of my own ignorance, I simply considered to be a vagabond out to steal the few bucks that I had. My uncle informed me of his story. Turns out that this man had caught the virus from his wife whom had also inflicted the disease on their children. They all, within the course of one year, died leaving him to fend for himself. With no means of purchasing the medication he desperately needed, the man had resorted to begging and looting for survival. Some even say that living with the disease drove him crazy.

His situation to me just epitomizes the issue in Haiti. When so many other issues are facing such a small and unfortunate nation, all the issues just seem to intermingle. Those suffering with AIDS don't have the medicine they need because they can't afford it, because someone robbed their local hospital of its supplies, or even worse, the corrupt government is prohibiting the delivery of them because of some corporate reason. Thus, those inflicted get angry or frustrated and turn around and do the same thing. It’s a vicious cycle and I honestly don't see a resolution anywhere in the near future.

Source: National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention Global AIDS Program, Centers for Disease Control and the CIA World Fact book


http://www.bet.com/Site+Management/Packages/aidsawareness.htm?wbc_purpose=Basic&WBCMODE=PresentationUnpublished&Referrer=%7B7D4F949E-6115-49C0-ADA7-DF7F59253045%7D

And now to the ones very close to my heart Children who are living with HIV/AIDS
There are children who are themselves infected with HIV. By the end of 1997, 1.1 million children were living with HIV. AIDS is now the fifth leading cause of death amongst children of 1- 4 years, and seventh in young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

There are children who are uninfected but living in an infected family. More than 8 million children world-wide have already lost their mothers to AIDS, and at least 30 million are thought to be living with parents who are HIV positive. Of the people who died of AIDS in 1997, 2.3 million (46%) were women and 460,000 were children.

Who hear these cries of mothers and fathers watching their young being buried so early in their stages of thier lives and for children who comfort them and ease their pain when they have lost their whole family support to AIDS,NO ONE! and it is devasting and sad I hope the thoughts of those littleones losing their childhoods because they have to raise their siblings on their owns and fend for themselves at least speak to your heart to get tested and to join in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Much Blessings and Hotep

Also if you wish you can show your support for the global fight against aids here:www.lighttounite.com

Other Fact Link:http://www.avert.org/aidsimpact.htm

[PatriotWarrior]

AIDS Day, Comments from Zambia:

WE commemorate today a very important date, World AIDS Day. An examination of the present situation shows a terrible crisis in our country as a result of this horrible HIV.

On this day we need to deeply reflect and meditate over this crisis. And a greater part of our thoughts, our concerns and sympathies are with our country's women and girls. The huge and alarming numbers of women and girls that are infected and living with HIV/AIDS in our country give us every reason to be worried about this problem. We say this because it is women who bear the brunt, not only of the HIV/AIDS, but also the deepening poverty and despair that accompanies it.

And because the HIV/AIDS pandemic tends to thrive under conditions of poverty, this situation becomes more worrying.

Consequently, our progress in all areas of human endeavour is directly dependent on the extent to which we tackle this pandemic. The challenge is indeed huge.

An important dimension of this challenge that requires special attention is the situation of women and girls. It is a fact that in most of our poor communities and families, it is women who bear the brunt of poverty. They are the ones who daily have to wipe tears from children who are hungry. It is women who look after the sick, the elderly, those dying from AIDS and the jobless. They are the ones who have to fetch water, make fire and cook.

There can therefore be no progress in our country without addressing the situation of women, in particular on how to empower these women and help them avoid contracting the HIV and increasing their access to anti-retroviral drugs when they are infected.

There's need also for us to find ways of assisting in the provision of basic services, so that our women are relieved from some of the most burdensome tasks of society.

And whatever growth or development strategy we adopt, it cannot be seen in isolation from the HIV/AIDS pandemic within our country. So many Zambians are dying, daily, of HIV/AIDS-related diseases.

And although the government over a year ago announced a very comprehensive approach to HIV/AIDS, including the free treatment policy, there have been long delays in implementing an effective free public health anti-retroviral treatment plan. We can't understand why there has been so much delay. Today, provision of accessible health services to all would liberate most women, who are the ones faced with the task of looking after the sick and the elderly and those dying from AIDS.

And the impact of HIV/AIDS on children is dramatic.

According to the United Nations Appeal, 1.8 million children in Zambia are increasingly vulnerable while the traditional family social safety net is being destroyed by HIV/AIDS.

And with chronic malnutrition estimated at 53 per cent - one of the highest levels in the world -- and life expectancy having declined to 32 years in large part due to HIV/AIDS, our situation appears to be even more desperate.

Poverty and HIV/AIDS are evils that would continue to undermine our country's development efforts unless we eradicate them. These two evils will continue to undermine our development efforts and lead to food insecurity, chronic malnutrition and exploitation of the vulnerable.

Clearly HIV/AIDS, especially among women, is fuelling the vulnerability in our country by attacking the core of our people's lives.

Certainly, our country has never witnessed a disease that is capable of causing such massive social and economic breakdown. And due to HIV/AIDS, decades of development gains have been lost and efforts to reduce poverty and improve living standards of our people are being severely undermined.

We call on our government to provide the most effective leadership on this score and unite all Zambians so that together we confront this enormous challenge threatening the continued existence of our nation.

And we urge the United Nations, and the international community in general, to treat our poverty and HIV/AIDS crisis with the same urgency and tenacity with which it deals with other serious crises in the world.

Our country, and indeed our continent - Africa, is on fire because of the HIV/AIDS scourge; everyone should be involved in finding a solution, especially our leaders. We have a lot of children born in this country not of their own accord who end up infected by the disease. They have no choice, so we should find solutions while we can.