exciting, informative, snarky, and very likely fabricated tales of life as an american expat in london

staying positive 2007 (reaching out for a hand that we can’t see)

by Jen at 12:12 pm on 1.12.2007 | 2 Comments
filed under: rant and rage

for all those of us whose lives have been touched by hiv/aids – and there are far too many of us.

aids ribbon

another year, another post about world aids day.

i’ve been observing world aids day here on this blog for four years now.

since last year, another 2 million people have died.

320,000 people died in south africa
220,000 died in nigeria
180,000 died in zimbabwe
140,000 died in kenya
140,000 died in mozambique
140,000 died in tanzania

by comparison, 16,000 died in the u.s.

twice as many people die of flu in the u.s., as do from aids.

it’s become the forgotten epidemic only because westerners with good healthcare stopped dying.

but 95% of those infected live in the developing world, and for those living in areas without access to antiretroviral drugs, hiv is still a cruel death sentence. people in those countries are not “living with hiv” – they’re dropping like flies.

then consider that another 2.5 million people became infected this year, and nearly one half million of those were children. how many of them have to die before we stop this madness?

we continue to let this happen, year after year. next year i’ll be reporting on another 2 million dead, maybe more. it’s so overwhelming, no wonder we try to push it out of out minds.

so this year, i’m asking you to please read a blog post by charlotte – a south african expat living in germany, who helps tell just one story about just one person with aids, in a country where almost half of all deaths are from aids.

if 2 million is too hard to wrap your brain around, this year remember just one person.

and then do something for them.

guided by voices – hold on hope

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2 Comments

  • 1

    Comment by Amity

    1.12.2007 @ 14:52 pm

    Thank you for writing about this.

  • 2

    Comment by Charlotte

    1.12.2007 @ 21:23 pm

    I hope that when I post about World AIDS Day next year too that I can say that the South African government showed their leadership in Getting The AVRs To The People. It makes me very very sad that the poorest and the most vulnerable appear to be dispensable. The ANC were our liberators, and now look at them. I want to cry.

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