For those of you who like to keep up, the last post was 357 days ago. Har.
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Fri: Nov 30 2007
"an AIDS talk and general philanthropy" The People & Planet society at my university organised a forum last night called “Why is HIV/AIDS not going away?” that had woeful attendance. That said, it was pretty useful and my only wish is that the society could have advertised the talk better. I live in my computer science department bubble and the only other place I’m at on a regular basis is the bus stop. Woop de woop. I only found out about the HIV/AIDS-related events this week because I happened to be in central campus (to me, the Piazza is central campus) last week to buy from the campus supermarket that doesn’t always cut costs. *nudge nudge* Our speakers were: a woman from AVERT, a man from Terrence Higgins Trust, and a PhD law student from our university. To give context, if needed, the man from THT was gay and I learned one or two things about the gay scene * A disclaimer: What follows is my account of the forum and some of the things I have learned from it. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the things I remember and report myself (which is sad) so if you want to know some real facts, visit the provided links of the organisations where the speakers came from. I am as reliable as Wikipedia - use me as a starting point but please don’t quote me. Sorry for the lack of professionalism. =S *
Mother-to-Child Transmission From the first speaker’s talk, I didn’t feel at first that I was learning anything new. It was good to hear fresh statistics and be reminded of general facts, especially about the reasons why HIV/AIDS prevalence has actually been increasing the past few years (HIV/AIDS discussion still taboo, social contexts, lack of education, etc). Even if you think you know something, it’s good once in a while to hear about it again, and refresh such issues in your mind. When the Q&A session came around she also offered some additional insights - I can’t remember what these were at the moment (I would make a horrible, horrible reporter/journalist).
What she did bring up was the issue of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), which she remarked wasn’t getting as much focus in the AIDS fight as the safer sex issue.[1] Prevention over cure - it saves the cost of medication (one figure mentioned persistently throughout the forum was 18,00 GBP per person), and would of course save your life. I think she said that prevention is really quite simple, and yet it doesn’t get carried out effectively, which was frustrating. Yet later she showed how the process of combatting MTCT in seriously underprivileged mothers in developing countries was not quite so straightforward. So I’m not sure about the point… could be I’m remembering it wrong. (Read about MTCT on AVERT’s website here.) Regarding the prevention of MTCT, there was a nice image showing the different stages involved with an individual mother. She has to first come to the clinic/centre. She has to be offered an HIV test. She has to accept it. She has to be given the test. If it turns out she has the virus, she has to be offered and given medication. She has to take the medication. And that is just the mother. Then there is the child. Even if the child does not eventually contract the virus from the mother, it is still possible for him or her to be infected via breastfeeding, and hence increased complications. Bear in mind the difficulties with each stage (e.g. with accepting the HIV test, she has to accept that if she is HIV-positive, that will die earlier than other people, that she will have to struggle with this knowledge while living in her community, and risk being ostracized if she chooses to let them know about it), and you can see how complex the problem actually is.
Complacency What insights about the gay community one got from this man! Which is not the point. This second speaker told us about the difficulties in reaching people who are most likely to get HIV/AIDS, which he says is still the gay group and the African group.[2] The problem with the spread of HIV/AIDS is that some of the people spreading it aren’t aware they have it, which may be why AIDS is still on the rampage. So one way to counter this is to find and educate those who are likely to get it, and encourage them to get HIV tests. Some anecdotes followed - how reaching gay men usually going into gay clubs and bars, putting up posters, talking to people; and how reaching Africans takes a different strategy together, because it is much harder going into churches (where many Africans go, apparently) and putting up posters about HIV/AIDS there. (”Use condoms!” in your local religious place of worship, anyone?) One comment brought up was that people nowadays don’t think AIDS is a big deal anymore. This, the speaker thought, was due to the fact that people are seen today to be living with AIDS rather than dying from it due to improved drugs for AIDS victims. Apparently, AIDS is one of the last things people would donate money to. So, people are talking less about it, which isn’t helping because AIDS myths and misconceptions thrive under uncertainty and education, and discrimination against AIDS sufferers continue. The law student added that she found it strange how, in Uganda, the issue of HIV/AIDS was everywhere, but when she came to the UK the public profile of AIDS was neglible. Something to think about. The Law To be honest, I couldn’t completely follow this part of the forum. Law students! It is something to do with how international trade laws affect distribution of HIV/AIDS drugs for victims and how the current laws are restrictive and contradicting - a jumble of patents and pharmaceutical companies, U.S. President Bush’s administration, and the United Nations. I wish I could say more on this. If you lot have the time to look this up, do post any relevant links as comments, thanks. But The Chocolate! Oh, one other thing I learnt about, not really HIV/AIDS-related, was the controversy with Nestle and their marketing of baby’s milk alternatives. An article here discusses the ban of their products by Edinburgh University Students’ Association. A worldwide boycott still exists. Wow, what can I say? I love Nestle chocolates and the beloved Milo drink. Something to consider. * Overall, it was a useful talk which made me feel driven, if for today, if for the next week following World AIDS Day (1 December), to find out more about HIV/AIDS-related initiatives and to give, to spread awareness. Each speaker had some different perspective from the AIDS fight to offer to the audience. Some intelligent questions were asked in the Q&A sessions, some cynical, some challenging, some supportive. It would have been loads better (and encouraging!) if the student attendance, and attendance in general, had been higher. Philanthropy I have had this idea for a while about promoting charities via this blog or a separate blog. UK charities initially - they are easier to find out about, easier to reach and also easier to donate to… especially when one has a mere Solo debit card. It is a little sad that people are apathetic nowadays, some aware of it and openly declaring it (a la Facebook “political views”). People are also cynical and need explanations and justifications before giving money. That last sentence was not criticism - I’m not in the position myself to say which charities and non-profit organisations aren’t using donated money wisely and all that. (Intelligent Giving from that last link may not necessarily either, there are some negative views on their work.) And in the end don’t us normal people succumb to our (literally) self-centred frames of minds? Are we selfish for wanting to sit down in front of the television with a hot drink? Won’t my blog go back to discussing vague issues of my life or the other things I usually prefer occupying my mind with? Don’t people despise charity-givers anyway, thinking them naive and pretentious? If I were to mention philanthropic acts and ideas in every post I make, would you not sneer and mutter, “Oh suddenly it’s all about charity” and think less of me and my blog? No really, wouldn’t you? Feeling like giving anyway? Suggestion: Check out a charity whose work come close to your values and beliefs - for UK charities, try GuideStar or Charity Choice. You don’t have to give directly (if your bank account is lacking) or volunteer (unless you want to), but you can find out more about a charity’s work and the issues they tackle. You can discuss it with your friends. You can write about it in your blog. Raise awareness, spread the word. You could be reaching people who go online, read up on what they have heard today, and give. * 1 - Even then, it was commented later by someone else that there is a substantial amount of people who still believe that AIDS is more commonly spread by shared needles. ♠ No Comments »No comments yet. RSS feed for comments on this post. Leave a comment |
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from his talk; the law student was African (I believe from Uganda specifically) and a very passionate woman.
But then I would ask myself, “What do I know about these charitable organisations and the work they do? What if someone challenges me with cynicism about where the money goes and I don’t know how to answer?” - would I even have the time anyway to maintain such a blog and stop it from becoming a static website? So I withdrew from the idea, not having that will, and I’m sorry to confess that.