Before During and After AIDS

HIV~~ (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) AIDS~ (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) Educate Our Youth About HIV/AIDS~~ I read an article on the internet about five young HIV-positive people who are living with HIV and  had gathered in anticipation of having a chance not only to share their experiences from different parts of the world – but to initiate a plan so that they could take action with a plan for their voices to be heard. As I was reading, it occurred to me that while each and every one of their stories were very different – there were realistic factors that could demand attention to make society more sensitive with the realities of young people who are living with HIV/AIDS. From the human rights point of view of living with HIV/AIDS, to the elimination of stigma and discrimination and access to funding – the young people made it clear that it was time to deliver on providing solutions to this wide range of challenges. One young woman spoke about her particular experience of how she discovered that she was HIV-positive by chance, after donating blood several years ago. In the face of this conference the young people was trying to bring attention to promoting access to testing. The young HIV-positive confronted people to think about how “it’s just not right for people to be able to test for HIV if they don’t have access to treatment,” making it impossible to control it after you have been tested positive, the question here is: “what is the sense in being tested?” If you cannot get the treatment. I would like to be very clear; it is very important to be able to get the funding in order to give HIV-positive youth access to treatment, peer-education and support groups. While It has been a constant worry that; “When someone test positive, they feel overwhelmed and go into hiding and this allows HIV/AIDS to spread underground”, reinforcing the importance of not allowing HIV-positive youth to be thrust into the background. HIV thrives in an environment of silence and secrecy. The stigma, real or feared, of HIV/AIDS often is a obstruction to HIV-prevention programs. If people are uncomfortable discussing their risk of infection with health care providers due to concerns about injustice or a lack of discretion, they may avoid HIV testing and treatment of symptoms. Those who suspect they are infected may choose to conceal their disease from friends and family for fear of rejection. Twenty percent of those surveyed assumed that people with HIV/AIDS were guilty of immoral actions and were reaping their just dessert. A recent survey conducted among people with HIV/AIDS reported having suffered discrimination by health care workers, most often by their own family members.   I THINK WE NEED TO MAKE A CHALLENGE: We should not believe in stigma and discrimination; “because the people we are going to educate will learn something from us.” As a person who has lived with the discrimination against my son only because of his sexual orientation and the fact that he lived with HIV/AIDS for several years, I believe that; Young People Living with HIV/AIDS, could succeed in positive and hopeful confidence to be sure there is not a cause for shame. In my opinion; if we give our youth the chance to come together so that they might become educated about HIV-positive peers, their words would be delivered in a way that it would encourage our young people along with our HIV-positive people how to actively engage with our politicians and government. They could then decide whether a coalition of young people and HIV - positive people needs to be formed to address their specific needs with policy-makers. There is also need to assemble so that they will have a greater voice and dialogue with all of our political leaders to address their specific needs and challenges. The goal of our young people would be to facilitate the joint effort of others committed to HIV/AIDS issues and to empower youth to be effective participants in the effort to abolish the stigma, discrimination and try to control hate crimes. Current UNAIDS (Unite Nations AIDS Program) statistics report only 1 in 3 young men and 1 in 5 young women have knowledge of how to prevent HIV transmission. “We are alive today and we need to create some change”, said a Technical Advisor on Young People and HIV/AIDS for UNFPA. Nearly half of all new HIV infections—6,000 per day—occur in young people aged 15 to 24. Approximately 630,000 new infections occurred among children under 15 years of age, most of whom are thought to have contracted HIV through mother-to-child transmission (also called Perinatal or vertical transmission) before or during birth, or through breastfeeding. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a public health disaster and a human tragedy.

King after surgery in 1996 about 2 months before he lost the war on HIV/AIDS!!