AIDS Awareness
The National AIDS Trust have announced that AIDS and HIV awareness are scarily low. Their press release stated that:
'1 out of 5 people in the UK cannot identify each of the main ways in which HIV is transmitted. And only 6 per cent surveyed were able to correctly identify all of the ways HIV was transmitted, without any false responses.'
This suggests that much more needs to be done to educate people about
the dangers of needle sharing and unprotected sex. HIV (Human
Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)
can be spread through unprotected sex between both gay and straight
couples, and can be passed from an infected mother to her baby through
breast feeding. Not only do people need to be made more aware of the
dangers, but it needs to be easier and less embarrassing for people to
go and get checked out. The NAT suggest that 1 in 3 people with HIV
don't even know that they're carrying it and that only raises the danger of it spreading.
It seems that now the big AIDS awareness drives of the 80's are over, the world's media is focusing on new social bogymen like terrorism and climate change while the threat of HIV still looms large. Perhaps kids in schools should receive more information about the risks and even meet with those affected by the illness to drive home the reality of the dangers.
For more information about HIV and AIDS, visit the NAT's website at:
www.nat.org.uk
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