The Epidemic is NOT Over

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has cost millions of people their lives. There are currenly around 38 million people in this world living with HIV/AIDS. There is no cure for this viral infection. It kills people bit by bit and slowly. Since there is no cure the best way to stop the epidemic is by prevention. The greatest enemies of prevention are ignorance and apathy. If you don't know how to avoid getting AIDS then you may behave in ways that put you at high risk for being infected. If you don't care to stop behaviors that put you at greater risk for AIDS then you are also more likely to be infected and to give the virus to others.

We have been living with the HIV/AIDS epidemic since the mid-1980's. For the past several years the number of people dying of AIDS is leveling off or going down. In industrialized countries fewer people are dying because patients with AIDS can afford the expensive drug therapy and are living longer. People are changing their behaviors as a result of various prevention efforts. Unfortunately, people groups who in the past had many friends die of AIDS are no longer seeing people die and they think the epidemic is over. They are beginning to return to unsafe behaviors. Before long all the gains made to save these people could be lost. Some people think the expensive drug therapy is a cure and return to unsafe behaviors.

In developing countries prevention efforts are helping to lower the number of new cases. Unfortunately, in places like Sub-Saharan Africa 3.8 million people were infected with the virus in 2000. There were fewer people infected compared to 1999 (200,000 fewer) however the number infected was enormous. Whole communities are devastated. Teachers that used to teach young Africans how to avoid getting AIDS are dying of AIDS and no one is in the classrooms to teach prevention.

Other areas of the world that have not had an HIV/AIDS problem are now reporting increasing numbers of people in their country with HIV/AIDS. The rate of HIV infection has spiraled upward at a terrible rate in Russia and eastern Europe. In the year 2000 almost 70,000 cases of full blown AIDS registered with the National Aids Centre in Russia - compared to just over 5,500 last year. Intravenous drug abusers in this region of the world are sharing needles and the epidemic is beginning to grow. There are an estimated 3-4 million intravenous drug abusers in Russia alone. Some people predict that over 2 million people could be infected in this region by 2002. Sex workers are also getting the virus and spreading it

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