U. screens global devastation of living with HIV

Students can witness the struggles of three of the 33.4 million people living with HIV to commemorate World AIDS Day.
“Speaking Out: Women, AIDS and Hope in Mali,” a documentary that follows three HIV positive women as they work on behalf of the infected community in Bamako, Mali, will be screened at 1:30 p.m. today in Room 201 in Beck Hall on the College Avenue campus.
Sponsored by the Center for African Studies and the Department of African, Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Literatures, the documentary shows how the women pressure the Malian government to develop a more effective HIV and AIDS strategy.
According to estimates by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV. Among those infected are 2.1 million children.
About half of all people diagnosed with HIV are infected before they are 25 and are killed by AIDS before they are 35. More than 25 million people around the world have died of AIDS-related diseases to date, according to International AIDS Charity AVERT’s Web site.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that at the end of 2007, 468,578 people were living with AIDS in America, about 20,000 more than 2006. The number includes all people believed to be alive who have ever been diagnosed with an AIDS-defining condition, including many people who have recovered their health by taking antiretroviral therapy.
School of Arts and Sciences senior Jenny Lau said seeing the stories of three HIV positive women on screen offers students a personal connection that numbers cannot provide.
“Looking at statistics or reading something is completely different than actually seeing it in the forefront or experiencing it personally,” Lau said.
There are currently no cures for AIDS but treatment is available, according to AVERT’s Web site.
Sunke Sagar, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences junior, said people have a tendency to disregard AIDS because it is seen as a fatal disease.
Sagar said a documentary might broaden his understanding of the disease, but AIDS will remain a difficult subject to fully grasp.
“AIDS is just a word and we don’t generally see the effects of AIDS,” Sagar said. “We know that AIDS kills.”
 

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