1st December 2006...World Aids Day!!!!

[chestermikeuk]

Good morning to you all

If nothing else before we load our Vintage Appliances today, let us take a moment to remember & observe what this day means for us....and what we can do to further the cause for Local & Global issues....

If nothing else let us take the time and find our way of passing on vital Information, Knowledge & Understanding that our Younger Generation need!!!

Mike

 

[gadgetgary]

Thanks Mike for posting....

And let's remember......

Here is a link to what my cousin(the founder) does everyday.

http://www.stphiliphouse.org/

 

[foraloysius]

25 years...

It was 25 years ago that the first articles about a new and deadly disease appeared in the newspapers. Mostly gay men were supposed to be the victims of this disease. In the past 25 years a lot has changed, but there still isn't a cure. Fortunately there is medication to slow down the disease. However there are a lot of people in this world that still don't have access to those medicines.

At this moment around 40 million people carry the Aids virus. Two third of these people are living in Africa, south of the Sahara.

In 2005 over 3.000.000 people died of Aids, 2.400.000 of them lived in sub Sahara Africa. Six people per minute die from Aids.

In 2005 there were 5.000.000 people infected with the virus, 700.000 of them being children under 15. At this moment the virus is spreading especially fast in Asia and Eastern Europe.

A lot has to be done.

This year World Aids Day has a special meaning to me. My best friend was diagnosed with Aids this year and also with Non-Hodgkin. (It are the other diseases than Aids itself that people die from. Aids itself is not the big killer, but the immune system is affected by Aids which leads to other diseases that are lethal in the end). My friend is still fighting the cancer, but things go well. He announced the cancer to his biggest enemy, because he wants to fight it and Aids as his biggest friend, because he has to live with it for the rest of his life as it looks now. I am greatful that he survived the worst and things are going well with him.

He thought he always practiced safe sex, but apparently in some way he was infected. It made me think and last week I took the test myself. Fortunately the test was negative, I'm not infected. Another thing to be greatful about.

Two things to be greatful for, but a lot of worries left because there are still so many people infected. Years ago I decided to become a regular contributor to the Aids fund. If we all make a contribution in order to fight this horrible disease hopefully a cure for it will be found. The sooner the better.

Louis

 

[toggleswitch]

No glove...no love.

I remember the first article appeared in the New York Times (newspaper) in 1981. This was the year I came out and first "got married" at 18 y.o. Prior to being identified and called AIDS, it was a vague group of symptoms called GRIDS (Gay-Related Immuno-Deficiency).

After contracting the virus it can be a full 10 years before it develops into AIDS. Once it is full-blown (oy vey) AIDS there is now a 25 year life expectancy. So at least there is a bit of hope these days.

Prevention however is the first priority, IMHO.

Interestingly, the way that kindergartener's are taught about communicable diseases incldung AIDS is "If it's wet and it's not yours, don't touch it." GENIUS!

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS play safely, and just as the rules are for creating a painitng or a novel "When in doubt, leave it out!"

Or as I like to say, "Together we can beat it!"

History of HIV/AIDS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[pushtorelease]

The "younger generation" (and it pains me to say that) so often now have the attitude that AIDS is something that can just be handled with some pills. My partner, HIV+ for 21 years now and just out of the hospital after a week with septocemia is proof of how endless and constant the battle to keep his health is.

Educate, educate, educate...

 

[oxydolfan1]

It was quite a while from the initial reports that came out in the media, when people starting getting sick, and when what I would call "behavior modification" started taking place.

I remember the first red-and-white "Health Department" warnings taped up in the bars...

The initial "gay cancer" description was widened to include "gays, hemophiliacs, and Haitians"......I lived in a neighborhood that was going very West Indian and there actually was a guy down the block who WAS gay, Haitian, and a hemophiliac...

In one six-month period a few years later I went to fifteen funerals.