The common misconception that AIDS is no longer life-threatening is killing thousands of people every year. University health officials hope to increase students’ awareness of the disease during World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, by spreading the message of safe sex and selling student art to support the HIV Alliance.
World AIDS Day is meant to promote AIDS awareness and remind people to practice safe habits because everyone can contract HIV, the virus believed to cause AIDS.
Dr. Gerald Fleischli, director of the Student Health Center, said there are many misconceptions about the disease and more people need AIDS education.
He said several people think contracting HIV is not as serious anymore because of new medications that stop the progression of the virus. These medications, called “drug cocktails,” can have many negative side effects, Fleischli said.
“The idea with drug cocktails is that you’re taking a whole bunch of medications, so it’s not like gin with an olive,” he said.
Usually, three different medications must be taken in precise regimens, Fleischli said. Some people have to take medicine every four hours, and it can make a person feel worse, he said.
He added that skipping one dose can make the virus become more resistant.
“Students need to protect themselves more carefully,” Fleischli said, adding that condoms should be worn until people reach a permanent, lifetime relationship.
“When a person gets into the passenger seat of a car and puts on the seat belt, the driver doesn’t question their trust in his or her driving abilities,” he said. “Wearing condoms should be seen in the same way.”
Diaphragms may prove to be an alternative to condoms in preventing the spread of HIV. The University’s Center for the Study of Women in Society recently received funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to study the effectiveness of using diaphragms to prevent the contraction of sexually transmitted infections. The study is scheduled to begin in January 2001 and may lay the groundwork for future research.
The University Health Education Program sponsored a holiday card-making art contest as part of World AIDS Day. Five University students each designed a greeting card, and the finished products will be sold in the EMU lobby today and Friday. The cards are sold in bundles of 10 and cost $10. Annie Dochnahl, a health educator, said all proceeds from the card sale will be donated to the HIV Alliance.
“People often want to give to HIV causes but don’t know where to contribute their energy,” Dochnahl said. She added that the opportunity provides students with a different way to contribute to AIDS awareness.
The cards are blank inside and have no specific holiday theme. Dochnahl said she purposely did not want them to be Christmas-related, so everyone could use them. She said several events in support of AIDS have centered on art because many artists have died from the disease in the past.
“Our involvement serves as a symbolic gesture to express a solidarity for people living with AIDS and show that HIV is still here,” she said.
R. Jason Holland, a senior multimedia design major, designed one of the greeting cards. He said part of his involvement was to get his work published, but he also felt wonderful that the project was for World AIDS Day.
“AIDS is an issue that is close to my heart, and too many people still think it is only a gay health issue,” he said.
Holland said one of his most pressing concerns about AIDS is that too many people think it has gone away, so they don’t need to have the same level of concern and awareness about the disease.
“If people know someone who has AIDS, they need to know how to be there for that person,” Holland said.
He thinks one way to support someone suffering from the disease is to become educated on the subject, and education is especially important for those likely to contract the virus.
Mark Evans, senior staff psychologist of the University Counseling Center, said people who are diagnosed with HIV often feel a wide range of emotions, including fear, sadness and anxiety.
“This kind of news stirs up whatever baggage they’re carrying, so they may feel isolated and abandoned,” he said.
Evans thinks group support has positive impacts on those who suffer from the disease, but the counseling center only offers one-on-one counseling because there is not a large enough demand for support groups.
“I only see one or two people a year who are HIV-positive,” he said, “so we deal with the person as an individual and respond accordingly to what they are going through.”
Communication is also key to dealing with AIDS, Evans said.
“It is important that those with AIDS be able to tell their loved ones what is going on,” he said, “and we try to help them do that.”
AIDS event to promote awareness, prevention
Daily Emerald
November 28, 2000
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