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Have You Heard Me Today?
Every 1st
day of December, the global community commences a day of action against “one of
the biggest social, economic and health challenges in the world”—HIV. HIV is an
acronym for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, a virus identified to cause AIDS
(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
Accordingly,
a person who has acquired an HIV does not develop AIDS almost instantaneously;
rather, AIDS advances when the virus has severely damaged the person’s immune
system, thus making him/her more susceptible to various infections, some of
which can lead to death.
Whereas last year’s commemoration of the World AIDS
Day focused on eradicating the stigma and discrimination associated with
HIV/AIDS infection and thus may prompt for a more effective HIV/AIDS prevention
and care, this year’s theme focuses on women and girls. World AIDS Campaign
2004 will tackle the role of gender inequality in the escalation of the AIDS
epidemic, as reflected by the campaign’s strapline: “Have you heard me today?”. In particular this year’s campaign aims
to trim down the susceptibility of women and girls’ to HIV and AIDS.
A Background on World AIDS Day
Now in its 17th running year, the World
AIDS Day aims to get people, regardless of the diversity and difference of their
backgrounds, to participate in the global fight against HIV and AIDS and thus
make a difference. To do this, the campaign involves several information and
educational events to orient people of all ages about HIV and AIDS.
Accordingly, this international health day was
initiated after a summit of health ministers was held in London on January 1988; those who joined this
summit realized that there is a need for a global effort to combat the spread
of HIV and AIDS. Consequently, during the same year, the World Health
Organization had declared December
1, 1988 and emphasized the importance of proper observance of the
said event.
The 1st
theme of World AIDS Day was “Join the
Worldwide Effort”.
Some Facts on HIV and AIDS
There are two types of HIV: the
first is HIV-1, the one responsible for the extensive cases of AIDS in the United States; and second, the HIV-2, which is
seen more often in western Africa and
accordingly has a slower course than HIV-1. Since HIV mutates fleetingly and
has many forms, panacea for the said virus is proving to be immensely difficult
to stumble upon.
Accordingly, HIV is remarkably
fatal because it damages the very immune system cells (i.e., T4, CD4, or
T-helper lymphocytes) of the body. Up to this day, the precise root of the
virus in people remains ambiguous, but scientists posits that the virus was
transferred from animals, in particular African monkeys or chimpanzees, through
a bite or meat. Interestingly, the first case of infection was documented in
the year 1959.
On the other hand, AIDS is the
final and most severe stage of HIV infection. It is basically accepted as a
syndrome (i.e., a collection of specific, life-threatening infections and
symptoms resulting from immune deficiency) only by HIV and not by any other known
illnesses. According to John Langone, the AID (acquired immune deficiency) part
of AIDS does not kill; rather, it just destroys the body’s capacity to fight
bacteria and viruses, thus rendering the body incapable of fighting diseases
that cause infections (for example, cancers or Kaposi’s sarcoma), which
consequently leads to the victim’s death. The sad truth, however, is that the
acronym of AIDS has been used carelessly by the public. As John Langone
describes it:
“The acronym AIDS has been used to describe
anything connected with infection by the virus…thus, one hears, "So-and-so
has AIDS," when what may really be meant is that the results came out
positive on the person's antibody test (a blood test for a factor that may
indicate the presence of the AIDS virus), or that the person has one of the
non-life-threatening conditions that are associated with some stage between
infection and AIDS itself.”
– John
Langone, “AIDS: The Facts” (Boston, Little Brown Company, 1991)
HIV/AIDS Epidemic: A Historical Perspective
According
to the World Health Organization, the AIDS epidemic began to spread during the
1980 in North America, Western Europe and sub-Saharan Africa
and have thus consequently reached all corners of the world. Unfortunately,
despite increased efforts to halt the spread of the epidemic, HIV is spreading
faster than ever, with an estimated 2.4 million new infections among adults
annually since 1995, where the most rapid expansion of infection is in
sub-Saharan Africa and Asia with an estimated
one million new cases per year. The “vertical transmission” from mother to
child during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding accordingly aggravates the
situation further.
Initially,
AIDS during the early 1980s was thought to be a disease of homosexuals and injecting
drug users, although subsequently, heterosexual transmission was discovered in
the latter part of the decade. According
to John Bongaarts, HIV infection nowadays is mainly due to the sexual
intercourse between men and women. Meanwhile, HIV transmission through
transfusion of contaminated blood and blood products had accordingly decreased
to very low levels in countries with extensive screening.
Considering
the fact that the virus/disease has no cure or even existing vaccine, and
because infection “almost invariably leads to death”, the HIV/AIDS epidemic
became a serious public health problem globally.
The Need to Focus on Women and Girls: A Conclusion
As
mentioned previously, AIDS during the 1980s was thought to occur on gays and
bisexual men only, and thus, concerns about the epidemic were focused on them.
Nevertheless, in the 1990s, the incidence of infection among women increased as
a result of unprotected heterosexual intercourse with infected partners and
also because of the steady increased of injection drug use.
According
to the World Health Organization, women and girls were chosen to be the focus
of the 2004 World AIDS Campaign, as “many women and girls are vulnerable to HIV
because of the high-risk behaviour of others”. This susceptibility, which
studies have shown is greater than men and boys, is principally a result of
“inadequate knowledge about AIDS, insufficient access to HIV prevention
services, inability to negotiate for safer [intercourse], and a lack of
female-controlled HIV prevention methods”. All these are coupled with the
gender inequality prevalent all over the world. Accordingly, many women
globally do not enjoy the same rights and access to employment, property and
education like their male counterparts. More importantly, women and girls are
in more risk of sexual violence, the latter being a potential vehicle for
further HIV spread. The words of Dr. Peter Piot, the executive director of
UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, justify concisely the
essence of this year’s campaign theme: “HIV
fight ‘tied to women’s right’”.
Another
point to consider is the fact that around half of all people with HIV around
the world are female. In addition, the needs of men and women with HIV are
distinct from each other.
Now,
considering the great role that women play in order to keep families and
communities together, it is really a high time to give importance on how to
address the issue of HIV/AIDS among women. High time indeed!
Vocabulary Words:
Stigma Discrimination
Gender
Inequality Ambiguous
Vertical
Transmission Vulnerability
Questions:
- What is the importance of a declaration of a World AIDS Day?
- Why is HIV considered as “one of the biggest social, economic and health challenges in the world”?
- Why was women and girls the focus of World AIDS Day 2004 campaign?
- Why do you think the theme of the World AIDS Day 2004 campaign is “Have you heard me today?”?
References:
Bongaarts, J. (1996). “Global
Trends in AIDS Mortality”. Population and Development Review, Vol. 22, No. 1.
Cameron, Y. and Lee, Y. (1999).
“Women with AIDS: Will It Change AIDS Service Organizations?”. Policy Studies
Journal, Vol. 27, No. 4.
Langone, J. (1991). AIDS:
The Facts. Boston:
Little Brown & Company.
The
Columbia
Encyclopedia, 6th Ed. (2000). “HIV”.
New York: Columbia University
Press.
World AIDS Day in the UK.
(2004). “World AIDS Day 2004”, http://www.worldaidsday.org/index.asp.
UNAIDS. (2000). “Press Kit:
World AIDS Day”, http://www.unaids.org/wac/2000/wad00/files/history_WAD.htm.
UNAIDS. (2004a). “World AIDS
Day 2004”, http://www.unaids.org/en/events/world+aids+day+2004.asp.
UNAIDS (2004b). “Have You
Heard Me Today?”, http://www.unaids.org/wac2004/index_en.htm.
World
Health Organization (WHO). (1994). "The HIV/AIDS pandemic: 1994 overview,"
Document WHO/GPA/TCO/SEF/94.4. Geneva.
World
Health Organization (WHO). (1995). Unpublished data compiled by the Global Programme
on AIDS.
