Where is the Grim Reaper?

By Frank Barnes and Charmaine O’Sheades

In the time it takes you to read this article (approximately two minutes) 20 people will become infected with HIV/AIDS.

With all the talk about pandemics, one pandemic which seems to have fallen off the mainstream agenda is that of HIV/AIDS. Twenty years ago there was a significant public awareness campaign which starred the Grim Reaper, but since then there has been little in the way of raising awareness by governments in Australia.

HIV/AIDS has not disappeared in Australia and United Nations figures indicate that 14,000 people are living with HIV in Australia. Figures show that in five years leading up to 2002, 1120 of the new diagnoses were attributed to heterosexual intercourse. In the indigenous community, 36 per cent of those living with HIV are women.

In 1984 when HIV/AIDS was first detected in Australia, Health Minister Neal Bluett led the country with a bipartisan approach to the encroaching epidemic. While there was some mild panic and some unexpected overreaction (Eve Van Grafhorst was hounded from her school on the Central Coast), there was a great education program and terrific support for the networks that were being established, such as the AIDS Councils. For at least 10 years, getting HIV was considered a death sentence and attending funerals became part of the social calendar of the gay community. After some gentle pushing, education programs were established in schools and after the introduction of retroviral medication the death rate dropped and most people forgot about AIDS.

Now some generations later we have way too many young people who are unaware of the possible consequences and we also have a major problem globally. The countries where the virus is most prevalent are the poor countries and they are fighting an uphill battle.

Let us examine some facts:

• 37.2 million adults and 2.2 million children were estimated by UNAIDS to be living with HIV at the end of 2004. It was also estimated that another 4.5 million people would be infected with the virus in 2005.
• According to the UN, by 2003, 15 million children under the age of 18 were orphaned by HIV/AIDS, an increase in 3.5 million over two years and it is predicted that by 2010, 18 million African children will have lost one or both parents to this pandemic.
• Globally just under half the people living with HIV are female and in sub-Saharan Africa 76 per cent of young people (15-24) living with HIV are female.
• One million people in North America are estimated to be living with HIV and 44,000 were newly infected with HIV during 2004. 16,000 died from AIDS during 2004.

The statistics are terrifying with countries being decimated and families torn apart by this pandemic.

December 1 marks World AIDS Day; it is a day to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. What can you do?