Back to the old methods

I am blogging using the old fashioned method of typing on a keyboard today.

In the course of writing my current project I have been doing a little bit of research into HIV/AIDS, and I am shocked at how shocked I have been.  I remember the original “Don’t Die of Ignorance” campaign, and the furore surrounding the “Gay Plague” nonsense of the tabloids.  My experience was one of being fairly close to the gay community at the time, and being impressed at the reaction to the virus, and the changes in habits and lifestyles, but in many cases it was tragically too late, and many of them have now left us.  So the fact that I was around at the start of this, and remember it so clearly, couple with the fact that I read the newspapers still should mean that I cannot still be shocked by this surely.  Well you would have thought so , but there are two levels that have shocked me.  Firstly some of the estimated figures for HIV infection worldwide.  I read from one source that it is at least 35 million that they know of.  In trying to comprehend this, I realised that it represented half the UK population, adult and child. 

Here are some figures courtesy of AIDS charity Avert (www.avert.org)

Global HIV/AIDS estimates, end of 2008

The latest statistics of the global HIV and AIDS were published by UNAIDS in November 2009, and refer to the end of 2008.

                Estimate              Range

People living with HIV/AIDS in 2008                                          33.4 million         31.1-35.8 million

Adults living with HIV/AIDS in 2008                                          31.3 million         29.2-33.7 million

Women living with HIV/AIDS in 2008                                       15.7 million         14.2-17.2 million

Children living with HIV/AIDS in 2008                                       2.1 million            1.2-2.9 million

People newly infected with HIV in 2008                                   2.7 million            2.4-3.0 million

Children newly infected with HIV in 2008                                0.43 million         0.24-0.61 million

AIDS deaths in 2008                                                                        2.0 million            1.7-2.4 million

Child AIDS deaths in 2008                                                             0.28 million         0.15-0.41 million

More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.

Africa has over 14 million AIDS orphans.

At the end of 2008, women accounted for 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide

In developing and transitional countries, 9.5 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 4 million (42%) are receiving the drugs.

Once I started to think of every other person I know or pass in the street, then it gave a little perspective.  The other facet that shocked me was the levels of cynicism and ignorance that still exist.

Perhaps I should be disappointed in myself for not knowing this, or perhaps letting it slip from my mind.  After all, I live in a leafy little village, that really doesn’t seem to have been affected by HIV/AIDS on the surface.  In the 80’s it was a gay plague, for all the world, were you to believe the papers today it is now an exclusively African disease.

Not exactly a cheerful blog, but if nothing else, it is good to prick the conscience and remind yourself occasionally

Posted via email from Mr Plug's posterous