Marches, rallies and health fairs are scheduled to take place across the globe today, commemorating the 20th annual World AIDS Day, an international day of awareness and education about HIV/AIDS.
At the University, films are being shown and professors are working on projects that can help improve treatment for people living with AIDS.
The disease killed 2.3 million in 2007 alone, according to the World Health Organization.
“World AIDS Day helps to keep AIDS on the minds of the country and reminds people that this is still a real epidemic,” said Ann Dey, program development administrator for the HIV Prevention Community Planning Support and Development Initiative, a program that helps to provide technical assistance to AIDS service organizations and community-based organizations throughout the state.
The initiative, a joint program of the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services Division of HIV/AIDS services and the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, provides training to HIV prevention workers all over the state through one-to-five day seminars that target prevention techniques in high risk AIDS populations like African-American women, gay men and drug users, Dey said.
People tend to forget that AIDS is still a major problem because it can be treated as a chronic illness, Dey said.
Thirty-three million people worldwide are living with HIV, with nearly 7,500 new infections occurring each day. In the Unites States alone, the Center for Disease Control estimates 1.1 million people are living with the disease.
“For facilitators, we give them a toolbox full of skills that are aimed at helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS,” Dey said.
Rachel Jones, an assistant professor with the College of Nursing, is working to reduce HIV sexual risk behavior in young women living in urban areas through a unique method: soap-opera type videos.
The pilot video was developed through focus group sessions where women discuss their real stories about their relationships with men, Jones said.
Jones’ video aims to communicate condom use within the context of real relationship issues. More than 80 percent of women who are HIV infected were infected through unprotected sex with an HIV infected male partner, Jones said.
“Condom use can be a symbol for distrust in a relationship,” Jones said. “Our soap opera video communicates that condoms can be sensuous. We want to really drive home the point that condoms can be a symbol of loving and caring.”
Jones and her team are currently filming a series of 12 additional soap-opera videos with funding from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey. The effect of the videos on reducing risk behavior will be conducted through a grant from the National Institute of Health.
Lucille Eller, a College of Nursing professor, has collaborated with AIDS researchers around the world on several studies to develop and test a symptom management booklet to help people living with HIV/AIDS cope with the symptoms due to the disease or its treatment.
Self-care strategies include stress-management techniques, activity and exercise, dietary recommendations and behavioral strategies for symptoms such as depression, diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and neuropathy, Eller said.
“Knowledge of self-care strategies can help empower people living with HIV/AIDS by giving them something specific that they can do to help themselves feel better,” Eller said.
Eller also teaches five workshops funded by the NY/NJ AIDS Education and Training Center to teach nurses who are caring for people living with HIV/AIDS.
Associate Professor with the Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience Guy Werlen is researching signaling networks and mechanisms that control life and death of developing T-cells, the key regulatory cells of the immune system.
“HIV targets T-cells and by understanding their development one might be able to circumvent T-cell death caused by HIV,” Werlen said. “Understanding all the signaling mechanisms will allow better production, activation and production of T-cells that would more efficiently fight off HIV/AIDS.”
The absence or malfunction of these T-cells can lead to severe immunodeficiency like HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis or juvenile diabetes, Werlen said.
“World AIDS Day is a great way to remind people that AIDS is still around,” Werlen said. “Scientists’ promises and optimism have led to a rapid calm down and left people to think that a cure is quickly on the way.”
Though we have medication that can help hinder symptoms and prolong life, we still have not eradicated the disease, Werlen said.
Werlen encouraged Rutgers students to protect themselves during sexual contact, keep away from situations where they might get infected and get tested if they think they are infected with HIV, so they do not unknowingly infect others with the disease.
“Eventually we will find a cure and we will be able to prevent new infection,” Werlen said. “We just have to be more cautious to stay away from optimistic statements that will make us think we can do whatever we want.”
Free rapid result oral HIV testing is being administered on the fourth floor of the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus from 12 to 6 p.m.
World AIDS Day celebrates 20th year
Published: Sunday, November 30, 2008
Updated: Monday, December 1, 2008
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