Dear Editor
Do you know your HIV status? When was the last time you were tested?
While HIV and AIDS might not be something that you think about regularly, if ever, they both have a large impact on our community, our province, our country and the world. It is estimated one in every 584 people in Canada is HIV positive. So while you might not think you have seen or felt HIV or AIDS, chances are you have.
Thursday is World AIDS day and the theme for 2011 is "Getting to Zero." The theme is grounded in the fight to have zero new infections, zero AIDS related deaths and zero discrimination. With over 25 million people having died from HIV and AIDS and with 33.3 million people, of which 2.5 million are children, currently living with HIV and AIDS, we must continue to be aware of how we are impacted by HIV and AIDS. This is not a disease that exists solely in Africa. It is a disease affecting us in our own communities and families as there are about 75,000 Canadians living with HIV/AIDS.
To effectively address the spread of HIV/AIDS, the drivers of the disease need to be actively addressed. Poverty, gender inequality, racism, heterosexism and homophobia, and other types of discrimination and stigmatization need to be confronted.
The following are all things you can do in your own life to help slow the spread of HIV: educate yourself on how HIV is spread and help to teach your children about their sexuality and how HIV is spread; never share drug injection equipment; use latex or polyurethane condoms when engaging in oral, vaginal or anal sex; if getting a tattoo, piercing or acupuncture make sure you go to a licensed facility that uses proper sterilizing practices; when you hear people make discriminating comments or make stereotypical statements, help to educate them; and get yourself tested so you know your own HIV status.
Every day, 1,400 people die from HIV. That is like a city the size of North Battleford dying every 11 days or the province of Saskatchewan dying in just over two years. HIV is something that can not longer be ignored as we continue to see the affects on us all.
For more information you can contact Kent Lindgren, co-ordinator of an HIV awareness and education project at Battlefords Family Health Centre at 937-6810.
Kent Lindgren
North Battleford
