December 01, 2004

It's World AIDS Day today and Viewropa has a banner available for use on websites to promote AIDS awareness. It will be visible for 24 hours on MoFi from 5am UTC and highlights the "lottery effect" - one in every 157 people is HIV-positive. And one in 157 hits on the front page will see the banner.
posted by tracicle 19 years ago
  • That is an excellent - and powerful - banner.
  • Superb. I've gone and put it on one of my sites, (even though the idea of it getting 157 page impressions in a day is laughable...) 1 in 157. That's just a horrifying statistic.
  • Horrifying indeed, and possibly not horrifying enough. UNAIDS/WHO estimates that there are between 39.4 and 44.3 million people living with HIV. The world population (according to the U.S. Census Bureau) is about 6,403,537,604. This gives between an upper-bound of .692% or 1 in 144 to suffer from HIV/AIDS. (The 1 in 157 figure is just a tad above the lower-bound.)
  • between
  • Urk, I am a retard. The lower bound is 35.9M, which is 1 in 178.
  • Excellent, tracicle, thanks. I hope to make a post on AIDS later if possible (it's only just the 1st here, and that means it's time for bed!)
  • Another current statistic: 1 out of every 5 people in South Africa is HIV-positive. That's makes me cry. Thanks for putting up the banner, tracicle.
  • Good call, tracicle. I didn't believe the stats until fuyugare did the math. Damn.
  • So, are the people who get aids going to post here?
  • I am still pissed at our government,(USA), for screwing with safe sex education. I work with the local teens, it is scarey they aren't taught about safe sex at school and most are not taught at home. Most think condoms are great balloons. The banner is excellent.
  • Most cities here in the US will observe World AIDS Day with a candlelight vigil and (gasp!) church services. Even where I live in Montgomery, AL, one of the large black churches is hosting an interfaith service. This is a relatively new event even though the disease has been disproportionately affecting the black community now for years. Change takes time. I've been working and living in the "field" of HIV/AIDS since its inception and its been one helluva ride. When I look at the world stats though, the US is very fortunate. But we are still a bigoted bunch of ignoramuses when it comes to sex, fags and druggies. This day always gives me pause for reflection and I try not to get too self-righteous or morbid about it. In fact, a lot of good has come from it, if only to teach us about ourselves -- the good, bad and the ugly on all sides of the issue(s). Much easier to say that from our comfy life in the US than in some other countries. Big Pharma, God's punishment, population control, conspiracty theories, Fred Phelps, ad nauseum...too many political footballs to count. But the heart of it -- the people living with hiv, my friends and patients who have lived and died with it...I am the better for having had them in my life (also much easier said being on the other side of better meds and fewer deaths)...