World AIDS Day

It is the 1st of December and another opportunity is here to commemorate the World AIDS Day.

The World AIDS Day is a day set aside by the World Health Organization and the United Nations to speak out the loudest about the masquerading menace of HIV/AIDS, to remember those whose lives have been cut short by the disease and to support those living with HIV.

It has to be remembered that sometime in 1981, HIV entered the medical lexicon of the World as someone somewhere tested positive to it. And since then, the World has witnessed horrendous number of deaths associated with HIV/AIDS and its accompanying opportunistic infections.

By the way HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency  Virus and it works by destroying the body's immune (defence) system thus leaving its victim very highly susceptible to opportunistic infections.

So on the 1st of December 1988, the first World AIDS Day was commemorated and it has been going on ever since then. The whole essence like I pointed out earlier is to galvanize the peoples of the World to unite in the fight against HIV.

As we write, there is no CURE for HIV/AIDS; though millions of dollars have gone into the research to find a potent vaccine against the virus but no positive results have yet been recorded owing to the ...... of the virus

The World AIDS Day is important because it serves to remind us that on a global scale, there are an estimated 34 million people who have the virus. Despite the virus only being identified in 1984, more than 35 million people have died of HIV or AIDS, making it one of the most destructive pandemics in history.

Today, scientific advances have been made in HIV treatment, there are laws to protect people living with HIV and we understand so much more about the condition. Despite this, each year around 6,000 people are diagnosed with HIV, people do not know the facts about how to protect themselves and others, and stigma and discrimination remain a reality for many people living with the condition.

World AIDS Day is important because it reminds the public and Government that HIV has not gone away – there is still a vital need to raise money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education.

In its early days, a diagnosis of HIV positive was more or less a DEATH SENTENCE (deaths were more from psychological torture from stigma and social ostrasization) however with the advance of Science and Research, it is no longer so as millions of people today are positively living with the virus and getting married and bearing HIV negative children.

Today, light a candle in memory of those who have died from AIDS and also wear a red ribbon.

Learn to protect yourself from contacting the virus and don't fail to get tested even if you are a virgin because there are other potent portals for transmission of the virus apart from sexual intercourse.

Be wise

May the souls of all those men and women, old and young, who departed this world through the scourge of AIDS continue to rest in peace

Amen

Dr. Jerry - the First: JP

#DrJTF