How did you celebrate World AIDS Day?
I decided that instead of teaching mathematics to my students I would instead talk about and have an informal question and answer session on HIV and AIDS. I was pleasantly surprised with their knowledge of the disease; they were able to identify the three major ways it is transmitted, how it affects the body (one student answered “it takes away your body’s ‘soldiers’” – he was speaking of antibodies), and how to prevent transmission. However, they were overly fascinated with transmission by blood (i.e. blood to blood contact), and asked a million questions about it. Everything from, “If I use sandals that an infected person has used if they have a wound on their toe” to “if a barber is cutting hair with a razor blade and accidentally cuts your scalp.” I had to keep reminding them that only a small fraction of people get HIV this way, and that the majority get it from unprotected sex. I also asked how they would treat a person they knew was infected with HIV, and their answers were terrifying. One told me he would kill the infected person, so that they could not spread the disease further. Another said he would try to convince the person to commit suicide, for the same reason. A more compassionate student said they would encourage the person to seek help from the hospital to get the ARV medicines so they can live better. In general they were afraid of the thought of being around someone with HIV. I suggested that because it is so hard to know if a person has HIV, and there are so many activities you can do with that person and not be at risk of getting HIV, why not just treat them normally, as you would any other person? I also emphasized that because the only way to know if you have HIV is to get tested, they should be proud of getting a test done, instead of embarrassed. HIV is increasingly more prevalent in Ghana by the day, so why not brag that you have been tested and you’re negative? And for the girls, I told them to not believe a man when he says he is negative but “lost the test results.” No results, no sex. The boys laughed at this, but I think the girls for a moment saw their opportunity to assert themselves and control their destiny (which doesn’t happen often in this culture).
So the question stands: what have you done for World AIDS Day today? Now I know you could go out and buy a new Project Red iPod, and that would fund AIDS relief…somehow (I’m not sure about the details). You could even give money more directly to aid organizations working on AIDS relief and prevention of HIV. Honestly the most important thing I think you can do is educate. Otherwise HIV will continue to spread like wildfire. In the states everybody knows about AIDS and HIV. Here, I would venture a guess that people get it before they have even heard about it. Not all get it because they are promiscuous. Some even thought they were being smart and asked their partner, but were lied to; still others simply don’t know how to use a condom properly. If everyone were equipped with this knowledge, HIV wouldn’t stand a chance.
