2008 Woodie Awards
AIDS is not an issue to be taken lightly
Issue date: 12/2/04 Section: Editorial
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In 1982, the acronym AIDS became a household phrase when the term for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was first used. The first discussions of the disease were met with denial and disgust.
Lawmakers and the general public passed the disease off as the "gay plague" and decided that, unless they were interested in the same sex, AIDS was nothing to worry about.
Today, over 20 years after AIDS became a global problem, more than 39.4 million people are infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), the virus that causes AIDS. Every minute, five people die of AIDS worldwide, and it has become the greatest health challenge in modern history.
This disease affects all people in every country of the world, no matter their ethnicity, race, gender or sexuality.
The disease is still incurable but not untreatable. However, there is still a social stigma attached to it, a stigma that prevents many people from openly engaging in dialogue on the disease.
Yesterday was World AIDS Day, and for the first time in many years, there is a heightened awareness about this issue. Unfortunately, our awareness of the disease does not translate into our awareness of its destructive capability.
Often, when HIV or AIDS makes American newspaper headlines, the story involves another country, further ignoring the domestic problem we have in the United States-a problem that needs to be addressed openly and honestly.
Too often, the headlines plastered across national newspapers only focus on the plight of AIDS victims in third-world countries, while the thousands of AIDS patients in America are silently swept under the rug. The discussion on this topic should be an everyday matter.
Since the discovery of the disease, many more people have been affected as the result of a lack of information and education about it.
It is obvious that many people know too little about the disease. Otherwise, the rate of infection would be decreasing rather than increasing. Just last year, five million people were diagnosed worldwide.
Lawmakers and the general public passed the disease off as the "gay plague" and decided that, unless they were interested in the same sex, AIDS was nothing to worry about.
Today, over 20 years after AIDS became a global problem, more than 39.4 million people are infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), the virus that causes AIDS. Every minute, five people die of AIDS worldwide, and it has become the greatest health challenge in modern history.
This disease affects all people in every country of the world, no matter their ethnicity, race, gender or sexuality.
The disease is still incurable but not untreatable. However, there is still a social stigma attached to it, a stigma that prevents many people from openly engaging in dialogue on the disease.
Yesterday was World AIDS Day, and for the first time in many years, there is a heightened awareness about this issue. Unfortunately, our awareness of the disease does not translate into our awareness of its destructive capability.
Often, when HIV or AIDS makes American newspaper headlines, the story involves another country, further ignoring the domestic problem we have in the United States-a problem that needs to be addressed openly and honestly.
Too often, the headlines plastered across national newspapers only focus on the plight of AIDS victims in third-world countries, while the thousands of AIDS patients in America are silently swept under the rug. The discussion on this topic should be an everyday matter.
Since the discovery of the disease, many more people have been affected as the result of a lack of information and education about it.
It is obvious that many people know too little about the disease. Otherwise, the rate of infection would be decreasing rather than increasing. Just last year, five million people were diagnosed worldwide.