In Our Hands Now

The semester is about over and there is still much to do, however this is now the last time you will be hearing from me, as a required assignment anyways. Who knows I may continue with the blog, it will be a while before we make HIV a thing of the past.

We must have faith, that one day with the combined efforts of many that we can make a difference in the world of HIV, a difference that would make the total number of infected individuals decrease over time rather than increase. This course has shown me now that it is our generation that is going to be the driving force behind that goal. The future is in our hands now, what are we going to do about it?

The one topic that I would like to talk about this week that has made the biggest effect on me since I started the course has been the Men's Panel. What an amazing group of guys, what they did for us really takes a large amount of courage. I was so intrigued by every one of their words that I couldn't help but feel like they were talking only to me. The stories they shared with us really gave me a small sample of the day to day life of being HIV positive. The craziest part is that I would have never been able to pick them out as being HIV positive, shoot I was standing next to a couple of them in the hall before class having a normal conversation.

The experiences they shared with us made me feel a great deal of sorrow and remorse for their past problems and the continuous ever changing complication that they have to deal with everyday. I was very surprised to hear one of them say that getting HIV was the best thing that had ever happened to him, he soon clarified that HIV got him off of a path that was much worse than that of HIV.

The panel really touched me, and this experience is something that I'll be able to refer back to when making decisions. This course has changed my mentality and has given me a deep look into a very real problem that needs to be solved.

Did You Know...

This week on did you know, I realized that since we started this course at the beginning of the semester until now, over 230,000 people have since been infected with AIDS. That statistic is unbelievable. When I logged onto the world clock I was very surprised to see how much the number has grown. This evidence should be compelling enough to urge people to get something done to stop the spread of HIV. (AIDS)

Web: AIDS. (2009). Retrieved November 25, 2009, from http://www.unfpa.org/aids_clock/

The Panel

Today is the men's panel, and I can honestly say that I'm looking forward to going. I was unable to make it to the women's panel so I'm not sure what to expect. I hope that this experience is eye opening and influential. I can tell you one thing though, I'm not looking forward to the Drive at 5 on the 408 haha. I wish I had time to write this blog after attending the panel, however I don't have enough time tonight. I'll be sure to let you all know how it went in next weeks blog.

This week in this class... The semester is winding down, and with only a few more assignments left, I feel my knowledge on HIV has increased 2 fold thanks to this course. Before taking this class, that I didn't know actually existed, I was a just an average that strolled through life without even thinking about the dangers of HIV. However thanks to my councilor's recommendation, and the fine work of Linda and Teach, I've come to see the dangers of HIV, and effect it has on EVERYTHING. It surprises me how often random activities will remind me of HIV, and the things I've learned in this course. I think I can speak on behalf of most people in the class when I say this class has changed some aspect of our lives.

I had a hard time coming up with a solid answer to this weeks question of the week. I think thats because there is no perfect solution to the problem. Why do the number of cases of HIV continue to go up, even when we educate the people? I think that is because humans don't care about something until it affects them directly. Sadly its usually to late when someone starts to care. Unless HIV has a direct influence on our lives, we will continue through our day as if it doesn't exist. I know thats how I use to be, along with many others.

Did you know...

This week I read an article that originated from Vietnam. The article stated that HIV positive students were finally allowed to attend a public school, after lobbying for a significant amount of time. When it came time to begin the new semester, parents had received word that HIV positive students would be attending the classes, and quickly yanked their kids from the school. One individual said that he would rather die being bombed out during a war than die slowly from AIDS. Unfortunately public opinion is hard to change, and the stigma associated with this disease is almost impossible to correct with words. The children had to be sent back to the orphanage to be schooled once again in order to get students to come back to school. Its sad to see how crazy things can get sometimes, especially when people don't know the first thing about HIV. (HIV)

Web: HIV. (2009). Retrieved November 18, 2009, From http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1918243,00.html

Past Week's Experience

I must say, I hope that I never truly need to take pills like I did in last week's simulation for the rest of my life. I sympathize for the people who are depending on these medications to sustain their life, however taking a few pills a day is not a steep price when it comes to life. This past week was a real eye opener when it comes to the average day of an HIV positive person. The simulation gave me a small sample of one of the daily routines, and necessities of people with this disease. During the week of the simulation I was actually rather sick with some kind of sinus infection. The doctor that I went and saw prescribed for me three different kinds of medication to take, including an antibiotic. Needless to say, the fact that I actually was sick made it a lot easier for me to remember to take all my medication/M&M's. Overall I would describe the simulation as somewhat as a nuisance. It didn't bother me that I had to take fake pills, but rather it was the fact that it had to be done at specific times with certain conditions. I found myself checking the list that told me when/how to take my pills several times before I actually started to remember it. I'm glad we did the simulation as an assignment, its just one more piece of knowledge that helps us understand the HIV disease.

Did You Know...

HIV affects the lives of teenagers all the time. This weeks QOTW made me want to talk about this one news article that I found that describes the effects of stigma on high school students. Fifty students at the Normandy high school in Missouri were escorted to the gym to be given an HIV test, after and HIV positive person told officials that kids could have been exposed to the virus. Teachers pointed out kids that may have been exposed, and were taken for testing. One girl that was pointed out as a possible candidate for having HIV was later dumbed that night by her boyfriend just before the homecoming dance. Just goes to show the affect of the virus on the lives of others. I though this article was relevant to the QOTW because if there was a plan in effect that monitored HIV positive people, then maybe this incident could have been avoided.(HIV)

Web: HIV. (2008) retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,443715,00.html

The Radio

I was a bit surprised today to hear a HIV awareness advertisement on the radio during my ride to work. It was rather subtle at first but then ended with a good message. The commercial was basically a playback of many answering machine messages of a guy trying to get this girl to go out on a date with him. He was offering to take her to the movies, dinner, and clubs with no success. Finally the last message on the machine was something like "hey girl, I took your advice and when to go get tested". Then the commercial started promoting HIV testing and the prevention of the spread of HIV. It had been long time since I had last heard a commercial for STDs on the radio. That could be because I don't listen to the radio as much as I use too, or there just hasn't been that many around anymore.

The other idea that bounced around in my brain for a while this week was the question of the week. I liked this question because it made me think about how much the chimpanzee has influenced humanity. We owe the success of many drugs and cures to ailments, to the chimp. I know that many people feel that the testing done to the chimp is wrong, but with the lack of human volunteers, the next best species to help test the advancement of medicine is the chimp. Just think how much knowledge we would be missing if these tests were not performed. The lives of many people have been changed thanks to the chimp. If there were another way to simulate these tests that didn't include using a chimpanzee against it's will, I would take it. I just feel that the benefits out weigh the loses in this situation, but then again who am I to judge what is right.

Did you know...

"In 2007 alone, there were 2.7 million new HIV infections. Almost half of these new infections were among people under 25 years old." (Avert) That is too many! That is why HIV awareness has been a growing theme in schools around the country. Kids are being provided with basic information needed to help themselves and others against the spread of HIV. This AIDS education also helps prevent some of the stigma associated with HIV, and reduces the amount of false information that usually strikes fear in the minds of others. This class is a perfect example of such effort. (Avert)

Web: Avert. (2009) retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.avert.org/aids-young-people.htm

Research Continues

When ever I hear the acronym HIV, a surge of knowledge flows through my head. It surprises me when I stumble upon a conversation about the disease. Fortunately I have yet to have any experiences (that I know off) where I personally come into contact with an HIV disease. I'm curious to see how I will actually react to the situation knowing what I currently know about the virus. I'm not saying that I'm going out to look for it, but it would be interesting to converse with someone with the virus. I think that such a conversation would be a fruitful learning experience.

This week hasn't been very eventful when it comes to the HIV learning experience, although my other classes have sure been keeping me busy. I'm new to the whole 500 kids in a class idea, and I'm finding it hard to get the useful one on one teacher-student help. I guess this is something I'll just have to get use too, just like how a person with HIV must learn to manage the life changes that result from having the virus. I am unable to get the images of those three movies I watched out of my head. Some of the scenes have completely changed the way I see HIV.

The question of the week this week was very strait forward in my eyes. At first the answer seemed apparent, but after thinking a bit longer about the situation I realized that the decision I made would be a rather difficult one to follow through with. I decided that I would tell the other parent about my child's condition due to moral reasons. However after thinking about the scenario and the facts, it makes me think that there would be no harm in not telling the family about my child's HIV condition. No harm no foul right? After all the bite didn't break the skin of the child, and it is unlikely to transmit HIV through untainted saliva. These thoughts did run through my mind, but were overcome by ideals of right and wrong. If I were the parent of the bitten child, I would want to know. This is why I know I would tell them everything about the situation.

Did you know...

Research toward finding a cure for HIV continues. Another experimental study is available for testing and needs volunteers to continue its research. Newly diagnosed people 18 years or older are asked to participate in a study that tests an investigational drug in the class HIV integrase inhibitors. The drug is called Efavirenz, and will be combined with other drugs (called NRTI, nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors) to test the effectiveness of the combination. The study is going to last about 2 years at no cost to the volunteers. (HIV)

Web: HIV. (NA) Retrieved October 28, 2009, from http://www.spring1study.com/howdoiqualify.html

Wow, Oprah talks about HIV.

This week was rather interesting, especially due to the fact HIV managed to find make its way into my day even when I wasn't looking for it. As many others have also noticed, Oprah did a show on the HIV topic. Now I wasn't watching Oprah, however my mother was, and knowing that I was enrolled in this course she quickly called me out to come and watch. Although I was reluctant to come out and watch the show, I was quickly intrigued in after hearing about the story that transpired.

This was a shocking story that had myself and my mother completely stunned. Hearing that a single man transmitted HIV to several different women over a rather short period of time. The scary thing about this is that none of these women had any knowledge that their current lover was HIV positive. Of course most of them decided not to use any kind of protection during intercourse, in an effort to keep the romance alive. For me, the choice to have sex without a condom is a no brainer, especially when the person your with is someone you just recently met.

One thing that kind of threw me off is when a woman in the crowd stood up and told us that it is harder for a man to get HIV than a woman. I thought the chance was about the same for both of the individuals. I suppose that has to do with the physiological differences between men and women, and the chance of virus making it to the specific areas. All I can do hope that when the moment presents itself, I make the right decision when it comes to using protection or not.

Now I wasn't there at the beginning of the show, so I'm not sure if the man knew he was HIV positive or not. However if he did know he was HIV positive, one thing that I can't get through my mind, is how a that man would knowingly have unprotected sex with someone even if he had the HIV disease. The feeling of playing a game of risk with someone else's life is not something I could morally do, which makes sad to think that this man has absolutely no respect for others. I feel that people like this, that play games with the lives of others, need to be punished accordingly.

Did You Know...

"There is a rising concern about the effects of HIV/AIDS among adolescents and young adults between the age of 13 and 24 in the United States." (HIV) An estimated 10,000 young people have died due to the vulnerability caused by AIDS. The proportion of young people with AIDS has gone up almost 4% in a 5 year span. This indicates that HIV is spreading throughout the population. Something that all young adults need to be aware of, and stay protected from. (HIV)

Web: HIV/AIDS. (2009) Retrieved October 21, 2009, from http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/Understanding/Population+Specific+Information/hivadolescent.htm

Very Dull Week

This past week has been rather unfruitful, and at times seemed to be barely moving. Having to deal with the burdens of my other three classes, work, and friend drama, I haven't spent much time the past couple days worried about this class. I'm looking forward to next week for that week off of writing papers, could use the break. Still working on getting this week's assignment done, module three - testing and counseling. I'm really glad to have got that nerve racking experience out of the way. Getting tested for life changing diseases is exactly my strong suit. Although now after getting my results back, and confirming that I am negative, I wish to be tested for more. I think it would be nice to get myself fully tested in order to acknowledge and understand myself completely. Unfortunately the test I took to look for HIV, could not be used to test for other diseases. That would have saved me some time and money.

Well, for the next few days I be working on module three, and getting responses out to the other bloggers. Other than that I hope to continue to grow when it comes to my understanding of the HIV disease. I know the movies really made a tremendous contribution to my overall knowledge on the subject. I just hope that there are more learning materials to come that are just as enlightening as the movies.

Did You Know...

This week on did you know, How many contractions occur in college? What about HIV in Germany?

According to the CDC, 50% of all new HIV contractions occur among people under 25 years old. Considering that college students usually fit in that age bracket, this tells me that college students appear to be most at risk. One major problem that aids the spread of HIV is the fact that most sexually active students report not using a condom. Which is unfortunate because a condom can reduce the chance of contracting a STD by 70 - 100%. (Access)

As for the laws associated with Germany's HIV confidentiality, they closely resemble that of the U.S. when it comes to laws. The status of your condition is kept confidential unless you do something that would provide reasonable cause to make it otherwise known to the public. One german law states that if any person maltreats or harms the health of another, they can be convicted, and sentenced to up to 5 years in prison, or pay substantial fine. (Germany) If you are a threat to the well being of another person, I feel it is the job of the government to take care of the issue.

Access My Library. (2009) Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-201608565/hiv-risk-behavior-among.html

Germany. (n.a.) Retrieved October 14, 2009, from http://www.gnpplus.net/criminalisation/germany.shtml