Because I said so

Uganda has its share of problems yet, Uganda is still THE model for the fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. However, Uganda’s model and success is currently being threatened. 940,000 people are living with HIV and 1.2 million children are orphaned by AIDS.

First and foremost with any successful health initiative you must gain confidence, trust, and speak to the direct needs of the target population. HIV/AIDS hit Uganda hard in the mid-80s around the same time President Museveni came to power. In President Museveni you had a president that cared that his country men were dying. He knew that a simple message of caution could (and would) save millions of lives. Museveni relaxed the control on media outlets allowing a frank message regarding the transmission of HIV/AIDS to spread through “churches, school, and villages.”

The forthright discussion and ABC programs (abstain, be faithful, use condoms) a comprehensive sex awareness program aided in removing the stigma and fear associated with the virus. Now the success that was once Uganda’s in the fight against HIV/AIDS is now in danger. Uganda’s HIV/AIDS programs are funded by numerous organizations. President Bush’s financial assistance is tied inextricably to "abstinence only" programs. A program which presses Uganda to teach abstinence versus the comprehensive sex awareness that reduced the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the 90s.

Abstinence “only” programs are ineffective and grossly unfeasible. The use of such stipulations tied to government funds in my opinion are a gross breach of the term separation of church and state. President Bush gave Uganda $8 million for the use of abstinence only programs. These programs do not and cannot effectively work alone. While, the concept and ideology is admirable we live in world filled with secular images and secular behaviours.

• Labels:
• Africa
• Bush
• Global health
• Hiv/Aids


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JPS Health Network recognizes World AIDS Day

BY ELIZABETH BASSETT
December 01, 2008

JPS Health Network will be hosting a memorial service on Dec. 1 to recognize World AIDS Day.

The hour-long service, which will start at 10:30 a.m., will be in the third-floor auditoriums of the John Peter Smith Hospital. Those who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS will be remembered, and a list of names of those who died this year will be read. It’s estimated that about 100,000 within Tarrant County have HIV, which causes AIDS, and up to one-third of the infected may not know they have the disease. For more information on the event, contact Nicci Willey at 817-927-1025.

The following are events in Dallas in Observance of World AIDS Day
DALLAS


The North Texas HIV Service Providers Council will host its 2008 World AIDS Day event Friday, Dec. 5 at the Hilton Anatole Hotel, 2201 Stemmons Fwy. An information fair and AIDS Memorial Quilt viewing will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Jeanne White-Ginder, mother of Ryan White, will be the keynote speaker. Reservations are required. Call 214-521-5191 to make a reservation.

The DFW Stomp Out Syphilis Campaign is hosting a World AIDS Day balloon launch and educational presentation at noon on Monday, Dec. 1 at the MLK Family Clinic at 2922-B MLK Blvd. Keynote speakers for the event are Barbara S. Cambridge, Ph.D., professor at UT-Southwestern Medical School, and Fernie Sanchez, M.A., of AIDS Arms, Inc. For more information, contact Diedre Spears, or call her at 214-528-0144.

AIDS Interfaith Network/Manos Unidas , in conjunction with Dallas County Health and Human Services, will provide HIV testing at the Mexican Consulate, 8855 N. Stemmons Fwy., on Monday, Dec. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, contact Edgar Carmona at 214-943-4444.

For additional post regarding HIV/AIDS you can read here and here.

• Labels:
• Global health
• health
• Hiv/Aids
• responsibility


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HIV/AIDS is often compared to other chronic illness which, in my opinion could pose a problem for intervention. By definition HIV/AIDS does fall into the Chronic illnesscategory because it to date still remains incurable. However, with the increase in HIV/AIDS AIDS infection rates among Black women maybe a different terminology should be used to convey the seriousness of living with HIV/AIDS and its complications.

HIV/AIDS is unlike any other disease recorded in history. It’s mechanism of infection of seek and destroy, at present has made it difficult to create an effective system of containment. Health educators can teach the importance of self protection but for many they, are still willing to participate in risky behavior. Dr. Berkley believes that because HIV/AIDS is now becoming viewed as a chronic problem treatable with antiretrovirals, and the fact that less than 10 percent of people who are infected know their status makes interventions for prevention and treatment difficult (Koop, Pearson, & Schwarz, 2002).

It is my personal belief that a lack of self appreciation and gender respect helps to proliferate the spread of HIV/AIDS. Women often find themselves placing the needs of others above their own. The mental and emotional stress from this mentality has lead to a neglect of self, which in some ways are allowing HIV/AIDS to invade at high rates.

Two Local Organizations:

SAAVED

AIDs Interfaith Network Faith Based



Information for those looking to fund a HIV/AIDS program

National Prevention Information Network


Cross post located atDallas South

• Labels:
• blackwoman
• education
• Hiv/Aids
• responsibility
• women


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I was unable to sleep last night which is unusual for me. I am the type of person that generally never has a problem going to sleep. Anyway I found myself still awake at 11pm so I began channel surfacing in order to induce a state of severe boredom that would enable me to catch some zzzzz. I landed on MSNBC which was showing an expose on Sex Slaves in America. I have to say I was shocked I don’t know why I knew this kind of thing existed especially living in Texas and being raised a couple of hours ride from the border.

I found myself watching the whole hour show and tearing up over the desperation and hopelessness these women found themselves in. The expose focused mainly on Houston and San Francisco many of these women were kept under constant surveillance and threatened, beat and raped repeatedly. This is a modern day slavery and bondage that affects women and children disproportionately due to a number of reasons.

(The video below is not the same one that I viewed the previous night but it represents the horrors and desperation that cloak human trafficking.)



Violence is perpetrated overwhelmingly against women many of which have been marginalized in society in large numbers, especially women in developing countries. For example, in South African they boast the highest incidence of femicide, where a woman dies every 12 hours, this is 6 times higher than in the United States or Canada (Wasserman, 2006). The effects of a patriarchal society where sentiments of male superiority and women inferiority operates as a prime catalyst for the continued acceptance of violence against women.

The act of violence is a major public health concern and a threat to social and economic development worldwide (Ellsberg, 2006). Violence, intimidation and superiority complexes have laid the ground work for the global atrocity named human trafficking.

"Traffickers often target children and young women. They routinely trick victims with promises of employment, educational opportunities, marriage, and a better life. (U.S. Department of State. 2004. Trafficking in Persons Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State.)"

If you would like to become involved or learn more about human trafficking please log onto these websites:


www.notforsalecampaign.org

www.polarisproject.org

www.cargoinnocencelost.com

www.stophumantrafficking.com


or call Human Trafficking Referral hotline from The Department of Health and Human Services: 1-888-373-7888

If anyone would like the full citation to the above articles contact me and I will provide them for you.

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• health
• Hiv/Aids
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I don't get to read for fun as often as I would like but, I was able to squeeze this novel in and I strongly urge everyone to read it. As the current American population grapples with the threat of a recession; tens of thousands of people in Africa are dying daily due to HIV/AIDS and millions of children are orphaned. Taking action to aid then becomes a choice between individual comfort and the desire to better the world for all living beings.

I loved this book simply because Stephanie Nolen aimed its readership not towards those individuals that have made HIV/AIDS there sole life purpose but to those individuals that may have become complacent about the horrors and deleterious effects of HIV/AIDS. However, experts fighting in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis may find renewed strength and vigor in the very open and honest and oftentimes painful stories narrated by Nolen.


It is important to remember that “AIDS has robbed them of much more than health” it has robbed this people of a productive life; and left them with a legacy many would rather keep hidden (Nolen, 2007, p. 17). Martin Luther King Jr. said it best “in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”, after reading Nolen’s 28 stories no one in good conscious can or should remain silent.

• Labels:
• advocacy
• Hiv/Aids


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