AIDS Epidemic
Just about everyone in the U.S. knows about HIV/AIDS and how it's transmitted, the treatment, etc. 2 things made me want to write about this today. One is an article I read yesterday concerning the number of children that have been orphaned by AIDS in Africa. The other is a "Watercooler Question of the Day" from a local television station.
First of all I want to address the number of children in Africa that have become orphans. The estimated number is 9 million! Can you believe that!? I know when I read it I couldn't. It's so sad considering we have information that can help these people understand transmission and treatment but they don't get the help they need. I know it's a completely different culture over there. Many of the tribes have several wives and all that but still there has to be something we could do to help them understand the danger they're putting themselves in...not only them but their children. The children are living in extreme poverty and little money gets to them so that they can go to school and become responsible adults. Instead they're taking care of sick relatives missing out on the things that kids shouldn't be missing out on. I know that several countries have pledged aid but pledging aid and actually giving it are two totally different things. You can say that you're going to give x amount of money to someone but something might happen and you're only able to give a fraction of it. The amount that is needed exceeds $2 billion. It's just so sad. Why isn't there a way for us to help them? Instead of spending 10 times that on a war, maybe we could donate what we would be spending on the war and give it to those who need our help.
The second thing that brought me to this was the "Watercooler Question of the Day": Should Gays be banned from donating blood? My opinion is absolutely not. I'm a straight person who knows quite a few gay people and they're not infected with anything. I know a few straight people that are. There is no reason whatsoever that makes their blood any different than the rest of us. I was reading what some of the people were e-mailing in and most of them were against a ban but there were a few in there that were all for it. There are always a couple wackos in the bunch. Their reasoning was that the "gay" blood might have disease and that it could be given to someone and they would get a disease like HIV. (Among the responses that was the disease most mentioned) I thought we got past this whole gay plague thing 20 years ago. One fellow on there actually went and looked at the CDC website and found that there are only 4000 fewer cases of HIV infection seperating heterosexual and homosexuals. Thats close. I had to give that guy kudos for that. Who's to say that a straight person wasn't just as likely to transmit a disease than a gay one? It just seems a little backward to me you know? There are plenty of monogomous gay couples out there that don't have HIV/AIDS just like there are a lot of polygamous straight people out there. It seems just as likely to me that a straight person might transmit something via blood as a gay person. It just seems so stupid to me.
First of all I want to address the number of children in Africa that have become orphans. The estimated number is 9 million! Can you believe that!? I know when I read it I couldn't. It's so sad considering we have information that can help these people understand transmission and treatment but they don't get the help they need. I know it's a completely different culture over there. Many of the tribes have several wives and all that but still there has to be something we could do to help them understand the danger they're putting themselves in...not only them but their children. The children are living in extreme poverty and little money gets to them so that they can go to school and become responsible adults. Instead they're taking care of sick relatives missing out on the things that kids shouldn't be missing out on. I know that several countries have pledged aid but pledging aid and actually giving it are two totally different things. You can say that you're going to give x amount of money to someone but something might happen and you're only able to give a fraction of it. The amount that is needed exceeds $2 billion. It's just so sad. Why isn't there a way for us to help them? Instead of spending 10 times that on a war, maybe we could donate what we would be spending on the war and give it to those who need our help.
The second thing that brought me to this was the "Watercooler Question of the Day": Should Gays be banned from donating blood? My opinion is absolutely not. I'm a straight person who knows quite a few gay people and they're not infected with anything. I know a few straight people that are. There is no reason whatsoever that makes their blood any different than the rest of us. I was reading what some of the people were e-mailing in and most of them were against a ban but there were a few in there that were all for it. There are always a couple wackos in the bunch. Their reasoning was that the "gay" blood might have disease and that it could be given to someone and they would get a disease like HIV. (Among the responses that was the disease most mentioned) I thought we got past this whole gay plague thing 20 years ago. One fellow on there actually went and looked at the CDC website and found that there are only 4000 fewer cases of HIV infection seperating heterosexual and homosexuals. Thats close. I had to give that guy kudos for that. Who's to say that a straight person wasn't just as likely to transmit a disease than a gay one? It just seems a little backward to me you know? There are plenty of monogomous gay couples out there that don't have HIV/AIDS just like there are a lot of polygamous straight people out there. It seems just as likely to me that a straight person might transmit something via blood as a gay person. It just seems so stupid to me.
posted by Kyleen at 7:18 AM
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