Christopher Peak Photo
Leeway.
Just because you don’t hear much about HIV/AIDS doesn’t mean the threat is no longer present.
That is the World AIDS Day takeaway message for the dozens of people who packed a common area of the state’s only free-standing nursing home for people living with HIV or AIDS.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
Greenlee.
People gathered Saturday at Leeway in the Cedar Hill section of the city to observe the 30th World AIDS Day and commit to continue to imagine and fight for a world without HIV/AIDS.
Delores Greenlee, co-chair of the Mayor’s Task Force on AIDS, said that the fight against HIV/AIDS has fallen mostly outside of the public eye as treatments have gotten better and people have managed to live to old age with the disease. But she said that there is still a need to beat the drum for awareness because new people continue to contract HIV.
“After more than 30 years of HIV/AIDS, we’ve come a long way in understanding this disease as it relates to care, treatment and prevention,” she said. “But this progress is nothing when we continue to see the increase in infections among young Black men-seeking-men.”
Garbera.
Fellow task force co-chair, the Rev. Alexander R. Garbera said things are a lot different than when he was first diagnosed with HIV in 1986. But there is still a ways to go if ending the spread of the HIV virus is the goal. And it is the goal, he said.
Greenlee said young people who didn’t grow up with a focus on HIV/AIDS are engaging in risky behaviors that increase their chance for exposure to the disease. And growing health disparities mean that they might not have access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which can prevent HIV and reduce the risk after exposure, respectively.
Watson.
“Are we to lose another generation to HIV and other health disparities because we have not reached out to them?” Greenlee asked the crowd. “If we lose another generation where is our future? We must do more.”
The younger generation vowed Saturday not to sit idly by and let HIV/AIDS claim their lives.
Ellie Watson, who contracted HIV at 25, said he was afraid when he was first diagnosed, fearful at every turn that he might infect someone by doing simple things like using the bathroom. He said once he was able to learn more about how to live with the disease it changed his mindset.
“I have HIV,” he said. “But HIV doesn’t have me.”
Sisters Shelagh and Nina Laverty won a contest for their essays about imagining a world without HIV/AIDS. Read them below.
A World Without AIDS
By Shelagh Laverty
Imagine. Imagine a world where people don’t have to be ashamed. A world where people aren’t lied to about things that could hurt or even kill them. A world without AIDS. People can wake up in the morning, without having to take a pill every day to try and get rid of this virus. Without being drowsy throughout the day from this medication. People can have sex and not have to worry about having a virus that will ruin their lives or be lied to about it. Where people get tattoos without worrying if the needles were cleaned and going to the doctors to get a shot. They shouldn’t be nervous about getting a disease when the injection is prohibiting a disease. People don’t have to worry about passing it to their children, having them suffer too. People won’t be scared to use a public restroom because they are afraid of getting the disease through that. You can’t get AIDS through a toilet seat but a lot of people still believe this myth to be true. Without AIDS, there would be so many happy people, carefree, not having to worry about their lives being at risks because AIDS will be nonexistent. Imagine.
By Nina Laverty
A world without AIDS. That is something that may never happen, but everyone has hope that maybe in the future, there will be advances in medicine and technology. AIDS is an STI that is a later reaction from HIV. HIV and AIDS is fatal if not treated. In the ‘90s, it was a big epidemic that caused a significant amount of deaths. AIDS has caused so much fear because people are afraid that they have it. If someone has it, there is a chance that they can pass it down to their children so they will have to suffer for no reason because of someone’s stupid mistake. The only real way besides inheriting is abstinence. Now in this day and age, there is a treatment, but not a cure. This has reduced the amount of deaths caused by AIDS significantly. I think a world without AIDS would be amazing, without all of these people dying there would be more people in this world who could make a difference like teachers who could help educate the community on how to change the world someday. Also, there could be more doctors in the world so that we could have more advances in medicine and medical technology. Also, they could help more people to cure more diseases. There will be more people in the government and law enforcement. Now there will be more people stop people trying to stop people who are trying to make the world a bad place. There will be more people becoming firefighters and policemen and more people in the military. There would be more people who are working in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and as charity workers. They can help those in need so they can maybe help others in their community. The point is that there will be more opportunities to make not only our community a better place but the whole entire world a better place.
Click on the video to watch two Yale School of Public Health experts, Gregg Gonsalves and Yusuf Ransome, discuss the current research and challenges in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
