World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, a day that I hate to say even exists. I hate that this day exists because it means that a cure has not yet been found...it means that people will continue to become infected and people will continue to die.

My first experience with HIV/AIDS was when I was in Africa in 2006. I spent some time at St. Lucia, an AIDS hospice in Tanzania. I held the hands of children infected with HIV. I loved on the children at the Nkoaranga Orphan Center who were left as orphans because of AIDS. This was my first experience with this deadly disease... and it certainly wasn't my last. This experience sparked a curiosity within me. Was this a disease that affected people in the U.S.? Where I lived? Was there a cure for this horrible disease? Did people even care about all the infected people and orphans here and thousands of miles away?

My curiosity and need for answers led me to choose an undergraduate internship with the Center for AIDS Intervention Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Here, I worked on a specialized HIV/AIDS prevention project that taught me more than I ever could have anticipated. I learned that people in the U.S. are in fact infected with HIV/AIDS and continue to be infected at alarming rates. I learned that while most people in my community have access to prevention programs as well as treatment, including anti-retrovirals, most people in developing parts of the world are not as fortunate. I learned that while there is no cure YET (and I say yet because I believe there will be one day soon) there are people who spend every day trying to find one. Most importantly, I learned that people do care about those infected with HIV/AIDS.... but sometimes they don't know how to show that they care because of the fear and lack of knowledge about the disease.

I could list a bunch of facts about how many people in the world are infected with HIV or the number of orphans due to AIDS. I could tell you the ways you contract HIV (and no, you cannot get it from touching an infected individual) and all about treatment. But I won't. Because today is about raising awareness that this terrible disease exists. It is about finding a cure. It a day dedicated to honoring the lives lost and the children left as orphans because of this disease.

I encourage you to do some research today - to learn the facts. Knowing the facts is what helps protect yourself and others. Knowing the facts is what helps eliminate the prejudice and stereotypes associated with HIV/AIDS. Today I remember all the children who have died from this disease and those left orphaned because of it. Today I remember all the patients I sat with here in Milwaukee as they were told they tested HIV-positive. Today I remember all the conversations I had with young and old people alike about how to protect themselves from contracting HIV/AIDS.

Today is World AIDS Day and I hate that this day even exists.

Visit www.aids.gov for more information on HIV/AIDS.