In light of the assignments given in this class, I am much more aware of tidbits about HIV or AIDS. The acronyms seem to jump out at me whenever I see them now. What’s new in AIDS research? What are they talking about now? Are people starting to care all of a sudden?
I noticed the front cover of the Miami New Times last week because the paper had an image of the ever popular hearts candies but with an AIDS-related message written on them. The paper used Valentine’s Day as an opener to talk about AIDS. Our professor mentioned that the Miami Herald had an article on AIDS in South Florida recently and teased a student about being a “blabber mouth” and giving the paper a tip on a good story. And you’d have to be living in a cave to hear about Bush’s “legacy” in Africa and his AIDS program there.
However, I am not sure if more people are writing about the disease or if I am so tuned into AIDS journalism now that I am noticing every little headline dealing with the issue.
Whatever the case, at least this project has made a classroom of journalism students more aware of an issue that, judging from our first blog entries, we didn’t know very much about. Now, there are over a dozen blogs filled with research and useful lengths proving once again that while the internet can be a wasteland in terms of accurate information, diligence and scrutiny can turn up some high-quality sites.
But what I’ve really learned is how much I don’t know. There is a saying that goes something like, “I know enough to know that I really don’t know.” That is how I feel about AIDS journalism.
I didn’t quite understand a headline I read today that talked about the “success” of a cream supposed to inhibit the transmission of AIDS when applied before sex that was proven safe for women to use but ineffective in stopping transmission of the virus. This was a big deal because previous creams tested actually INCREASED the risk of infection for users. More than 100 women over the course of three years were infected with HIV while using the cream and more than 150 women who were given the placebo were infected over the same time period. After reading that statement, I was aghast. These women were given a PLACEBO?!? For something as serious as AIDS!?! But after breathing and counting to ten slowly, I read a little more about the study and realized that the women were also given condoms and counseling on how to protect themselves from HIV. One of the main reasons these women were infected was that their partners did not want to wear condoms, which is precisely the reason that women need a way to protect themselves in the first place. Complicating the issue further is the U.S. policy of withholding aid funds from organizations that counsel patients on anything but abstinence, making condoms and STD prevention information hard to come by for those who desperately need it.
The many facets of the AIDS epidemic are what make it such a complex issue, and such a serious one. We think of it as, well, just “wrap it up!” like a popular AIDS awareness campaign in the United States tells us to do. But in other countries it is not so easy, so simple, or so accepted. This project has made me realize all of the little issues I don’t consider when I think of AIDS and why the spread of the disease has not been curbed as it should have been by now.
LINKS:
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1761857720080218
(Yolanne listening to our wonderful natural sound audio :D)
