AIDS

HIV/AIDS has been on my mid a lot recently. I apologize now if some of my comments seem harsh and slightly unorganized but I had to get them out of my head. Know that my words are not necessarily directed towards you...

There's only us

There's only this

Forget regret

Or life is yours to miss

No other road

No other way

No day but today

-"Another Day" from Rent

Last night I went to go and see Rent at the Fox. It was an incredible show and I'm glad that I finally got to see a live performance. Hearing several of my favorite songs ("Another Day", "La Vie Boheme" and "Goodbye Love") in person definitely gave me chills. Watching the show definitely got me thinking a lot, particularly about AIDS, since in the show several of the main characters are infected with the disease. The AIDS epidemic has certainly come a long way from the early 1990s when the image of AIDS was confined to urban cities such as New York and medical opinion declared that the only four at-risk groups for HIV/AIDS were the 4 H's: Homosexuals, Hemophiliacs, Heroin-users, and Haitians. Now AIDS has become one of the biggest global health crises of the millenium that affects everyone. AIDS has recently become a very personal issue in my life as I'm about to join the Peace Corps where half of my job title involves dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Togo (Community Health & AIDS Prevention).

I don't have a lot of experience dealing with AIDS. I don't have AIDS. I've never been close to someone with AIDS. I don't have a somber story about someone I knew who died of AIDS (and this worries me because I don't know how I am going to deal with death from AIDS). The first time I met someone with AIDS (or atleast who I KNEW had AIDS) was a few summers ago when I attended an AIDS 101 workshop put together by AIDAtlanta. My main exposure to AIDS has been from a global public health standpoint, as opposed to a personal human connection. Unfortunately right now, when I see AIDS, I see statistics, not human faces; this is definitely something I want to change. When it comes to my interest in global health, I don't want to see diseases as just public health challenges; I want to put a face to these global health diseases to better understand what I am fighting for: humanity.

Something that really grinds my gears is that there is a HUGE misconception among my friends that everyone in Africa has AIDS! This frustrates me to no end. I don't know whether people are serious or just playing dumb but I have had people come up to me and say "Be careful! If you go to Africa, you will catch AIDS". Even if they are just trying to be funny, by them mocking the situation, it only devalues the seriousness of the issue. And the AIDS crisis is serious! It may not seem serious to us in the so called "first" world where AIDS drugs are fairly accessible as are treatment centers and sources for support. Yet in Africa, people infected with HIV/AIDS have to deal with not just the lack of financial resources to treat themselves but also they lack the social support systems they need to cope with the disease. AIDS in the US tends to be a choice: not using a condom, sharing needles, and other risky behaviour. AIDS in Africa tends NOT to be a choice, particularly for women.

Unlike some of the other African countries, Togo is blessed to have a fairly low prevalance rate of AIDS (4.1% as compared to 0.6% in the USA); therefore, much of my work in Togo will deal with many of the social aspects of AIDS as opposed to straight prevention and education. There are still misconceptions on how AIDS is transmitted; additionally, due to the heave influence of animism and sorcery, many still believe AIDS to be a punishment in the magical sense. AIDS is a highly stigmatized disease and I hope that my work through the Peace Corps will help me break through some of these stereotypes and false images against PLWHAs (People living with HIV/AIDS).

Another issue that frustrates me regarding the disease is that in today's media, AIDS is "sexy". Everyone wants to work with AIDS. Everyone wants to donate to AIDS campaigns. And as important as it is, focusing solely on AIDS will not improve the situation much more unless we take a holistic approach to fighting the disease by realizing that AIDS is a co-morbid disease. You don't die from AIDS, at least not specifically; you die from pnemonia, tuberculosis, malaria, even the common cold. AIDS weakens your immune system to the point that any disease that comes along can kill you. You have to treat AIDS, but you also have to treat the other diseases. There are also so many issues tied to HIV/AIDS (access to drugs, abstinance-only funding, denial) that this is why its so important to look at it as a large-scale global health problem, not just a medical issue.

Okay before this turns into an uglier rant I think I'll stop and leave you with the aforementioned points to ponder...

ciao,

-Nikhil