Go Back to – Face It!
The most successful HIV campaign ever occurred in Uganda and the homosexual communities of the USA in the late 1980’s and early 1990·s. This was before HIV was a multi-million dollar industry, before anti-retrovirals, and mass awareness and education campaigns. All these people had was a basic understanding of how HIV spread and the knowledge that they had to act fast in order to escape extinction.
People in Uganda started by caring for those who were sick. Showing compassion. With the sick cared for, they started talking about what was going on – openly. HIV was a common subject on the radio, at bus stations and market places, amongst friends and strangers. It was not long before everyone in these regions of high prevalence knew the threat they faced and what their duty was in order to stop it.
Because the sick weren’t seen as outcasts, or as dirty or bad people as is often the case in more recent times, no one was afraid to come forward with their status. They recognised the fact that the activities which lead to HIV were commonplace in everyday life and not just those infected. All were at risk. With status known It was possible to start mobilizing society in to a position where they could start fighting back. In Uganda, where one third of the adult population was infected, they managed to decrease their infection rate by 60%. Their primary tools being attitude and interaction.
This disease does not effect only a certain type of person, or a person with a certain lifestyle. Everyone is at risk, and often those who react the worst to HIV are the ones
hiding the most. A person in denial of their actions is not only a threat to themselves but also to those they care for the most. Since then, with overwhelming sums of money, state of the art technology and science, the death toll continues to escalate out of control. People cry out for a cure, for something to be done, and in their searching have overlooked the most
successful prevention – to take responsibility for your own actions, and respect those who are effected by your actions.