AIDS Profile
According to the United Nations, there are currently about 40 million people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) across the globe. Every year over 3 million people die of AIDS, and the infection is spreading at an alarming rate in many regions of the world. Already over 20 million people have died of this disease.
Most HIV-positive people live in developing countries. While it is generally well-known that the disease is rampant in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, HIV prevalence is also increasing dramatically in parts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Central and Latin America and much of Asia, including India and China. Citizens of these poorer countries are less likely to have access to information to help them prevent infections and, once infected, are quite unlikely to have access to life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs that richer people use to stay alive for decades after infection.
HIV does not only hurt individuals; it also tears at the fabric of society. By killing adults in the prime of their lives, the virus takes parents away from their children (there will be an estimated 25million AIDS orphans worldwide by 2010), kills many of the most productive members of societies (including nurses, teachers, government officials and agricultural producers) and thereby reduces a country’s capacity to run effectively. The virus is especially harmful to women and girls on account of both biological and social factors, very troubling facts indeed given that females tend to be already marginalized in many societies
HIV is spread through bodily fluids like semen and blood. In some countries, like those of the former Soviet Union, a common route of transmission involves the virus infecting intravenous drug users who use contaminated needles. In many others, infections are transmitted through sexual contact between hetero- and homosexual couples that practice unsafe sex. In a smaller number of cases and places, people are infected through contaminated blood supplies and transfusions.
So what can we do? The first step is having an awareness of the crisis and its implications. Next, we must turn that knowledge into action. From supporting (through fundraising for or volunteering/interning at) a worthwhile organization that is doing valuable work in the lab, in policy or on the ground to advocating for a worthy cause like increasing funding for global AIDS programs, there’s a lot Princeton students can do. We can also help stem the continuing rate of infection here in America (where 40,000 new infections still occur every year) by getting tested for HIV at McCosh or elsewhere and always practicing safer sex. Lastly, we can get involved with local organizations with a global focus, like SGAC.
For more information, consult these links:
The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
UNAIDS Global AIDS REport 2004
The World Health Organization – Division of HIV/AIDS
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – HIV Division
Princeton AIDS Initiative (PAI)
PAI’s list of opportunities for internships, research and jobs in HIV/AIDS