World AIDS Day December 1 2006
Today is World AIDS Day. A day in which we observe the millions of individuals that this epidemic has claimed. AIDS has more than 25 million people and in 2005 it claimed around 3 million individuals. Make no mistake, this is indeed an epidemic.
Being in The Philippines, AIDS hasn’t impacted us in the same way as The United States. I think our culture is mostly why we haven’t had an extreme case of AIDS in our country. Despite becoming more open to the Western culture, we are still conservative in our views and actions.
People with HIV and AIDS have seen an increase in life expectancy, I saw in an article that they can extend their life by 15-20 years with many of the drugs today. Unfortunately these drugs are expensive and run into the hundreds/day and only those with sufficient health care can afford this cost. Again, we can only extend the life of an AIDS patient, but there is still no cure for individuals who have HIV or AIDS.
You can go to youthaids.org for further information on AIDS and HIV.
