Skip to main content

The Gen Y and HIV\AIDS

December 1, 2008 marks two decades of increased awareness, improved education and a deeper understanding of the HIV\AIDS pandemic world wide. Here we are twenty years since the first celebrated World AIDS Day; a good time to check our progress.

Over time, we have seen society go through polar reactions to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The range goes from irrational pandemonium in the mid 1980’s involving chaotic grocery shopping incidents and an assumed HIV infected sneeze on the produce, to today’s almost apathetic annoyed disposition. Has our reaction to HIV\AIDS become comparable to the general reaction to a car alarm? That is, the warning is there, but no one believes it is their car, so everyone just gets annoyed by the alarm. Everyone except the poor bugger you see running towards the car almost in panic mode abusing his key alarm button in his attempt to quiet the beast.

The real beast is ignorance. Health Canada calls the epidemic here ‘severe and deeply troublesome’. Thousands of Canadians are infected each year and a staggering number of those infected are our youth. Every two hours, someone in this country becomes infected with HIV. Over 27% of infected people don’t even know they have HIV.

The sad truth is, our generation Y is still contracting HIV\AIDS through unprotected sex. The recent trend shows a large increase in the number of young women contracting HIV through heterosexual sex. This, to me, a mother of four wonderful daughters, is daunting.

What can we do? Most importantly, talk about it at home! Of equal import, encourage the kids to talk to one another. One must not become complacent. The Gen Y needs to start asking why.

This is dedicated to Frank and Jim because you helped my girls with their awareness and to The Casey House in Toronto, Canada – kudos to a fantastic place of care and compassion.

Comments

  1. Good post - could not agree more with you. Humans for being so smart can be so dumb /ignorant. We have done the research so we know how HIV/AIDS primarily comes about - unprotected sex and drug use, but we still stick our heads in the sands and think that it would never happen to me. It's easy not to get it but everyday people find themselves rolling the dice - and losing...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. I see (and have come to expect) great things out of the Gen Y when they put the text messaging down and think!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good post Janet, nice to see you on here. Well done.

    Maintaining our awareness to this tragedy is important. It's all too easy to become blasé. I sometimes think it's an indifference born of the soup of high-drama from television and films.

    It needs highlighting again.

    Anthony

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree Anthony - hopefully the message hits home!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Day I Saw Ty Conn

(This is being recalled from a very young mind...) When my father would begin telling a story from his childhood, he would begin with “When I was a little girl…” which would cause an uproar of high pitched objections from my sisters and myself. He would simply smile and continue on, as he now had our complete attention. I started this post at the beginning of November of this year when thoughts of my father return annually on the anniversary of his birthday. This story, however, is not about my father… When I was a little girl, I lived in a small house on Pine Street with my father, mother and three sisters. Ours was a busy, full house. Lisa was the oldest, very beautiful and very bossy. Pam was next, also very beautiful and we envied her fashion sense. I was the third in the line of my sisters, a middle child that cried a lot, made funny faces and was very comfortable at the centre of attention. My little sister, Joanne, enjoyed the status of being the baby in the family. She wa

John Milton on Freedom of Expression

'Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.' In 1644 at the height of the English Civil War, John Milton penned Areopagitica , which is now known as one of history’s first impassioned defences to freedom of expression. Ironically, Milton never delivered this argument verbally, however there was no need, the message was clear; to allow freedom of speech in written form. John Milton may have been more concerned about religion and less with the politics of war; unfortunately, history has seen these two go hand in hand. Thanks to John Milton, and all who followed and fought for the right to freedom of expression. Thank you to all who exercise this right and provide the poetry, novels and the daily news which combined help to map out our history. On Time By John Milton Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race, Call on the lazy leaden-stepping hours, Whose speed is but the heavy plummet's pace; And glut thyself wi

AJ Vandrie “Bringing the Outside In”

His work has been described as a ‘balance between two worlds’.   AJ Vandrie grew up in Northumberland Hills with his adoptive family. His background is composed of Ojiway/Chippewa and Irish heritage. He pursued his art studies at the White Mountain Academy of the Arts in Elliot Lake, a school, located in an isolated area in Northern Ontario, sought to combine First Nations and European approaches to art, which was a great fit for AJ. After his first year of studies, he suffered a personal loss, with the death of his birth father and mother who died within a sort period of time from one another. It was at this time that AJ began exploring the art style that he is known for today.   Widely considered Woodland School of Art, this style is synonymous with the artist Norval Morriseau , whose influence is evident in the works seen here. One can find definite similarities between these two artists; style aside, they are both deeply spiritual, sharing, through their art, pers