We did some talking about World AIDS day today, specificially about Product RED and the impact it makes on AIDS in Africa. It was an almost cheery video. I looked behind me and all my young(er) co-workers… many at the age of those who were killed by this mysterious, emerging disease. It wiped out so many and there was no hope to offer.
I flashed back to reading that article in the NYTimes (paper edition) which announced that doctors were puzzling over this new disease which seemed to shut down the immune system and which targeted young men… I thought about my co-worker Rudy who died of AIDS, his family denying his whole life.
And I looked at these young folk, ready to do good for those affected in Africa. It’s good but I had this moment that this “problem” has been moved to somewhere far far away.
It hasn’t been moved far far away, unfortunately. For maps with various categories and comparisons, go to https://aidsvu.org/map/#{“datatype”:”prevalence”,”maptype”:”county”,”overall”:”selected”,”ratescases”:”cases”} and
https://aidsvu.org/world-aids-day-end-epidemic-globally-part-locally/