(The Verge)-Did you know there are 1.2 million people in the United States who are living with HIV right now? What is even scarier is that 1 out of 5 of these people are unaware that they are even infected. Studies show that the spread of HIV/AIDS are increasing, especially among college students. The reasoning behind this is the increase of risky sexual behaviors that these students partake in, including the lack of condom use and having multiple sex partners, while also being under the influence of drugs and alcohol (Khosrovani, 2011). The numbers of HIV/AIDS cases have been continuing to increase every year, but the problem is that the awareness of this disease has not. HIV affects around 50,000 people per year, and ends up being the reason of death for around half of those cases (“At a Glance,” 2011). So the question is, how do we lower these numbers?
There are several ways that can increase the awareness about HIV/AIDS, and the dangers that they are capable of creating. Social media is an important example that can create a huge impact on the dispersing of how we look at HIV/AIDS, but unfortunately their involvement isn’t sufficient enough. In fact, they do the opposite of what would actually be beneficial for the public. Shows on television are now so sexually explicit, that it is also becoming the norm, and allowing these acts to become more natural for people to do. The Internet could even portray awareness messages stating statistics that involve people who are diagnosed with HIV. Even public service announcements could be aired on the radio discussing certain preventions of this disease, but instead we hear commercials about Viagra, right after listening to a song that talks about sex, drugs and alcohol. If people were more educated on this topic, the spread of HIV would start to decrease.
People normally never think that they could actually have HIV, so they brush off the idea of getting tested, or chose not to wear a condom one night. But the truth is HIV can be passed on, infecting one person to another, and people really need to realize this. To learn more about this topic, on November 29th from 6 to 8 pm, Monmouth University will be hosting its annual health night out in Anacon Hall. At this event information will be discussed regarding a variety of health topics, HIV/AIDS included.
