BUSINESS WIRE; Wednesday, November 26, 1997.
On December 1st, we commemorate the 9th annual World AIDS Day.
The day was set forth by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS to increase HIV awareness, remember those who have died, praise those who live courageously with HIV/AIDS every day, and encourage families who give their support to infected persons.
This year's theme, "Give Children Hope In A World With AIDS," challenges people around the world to think about long term repercussions of the AIDS pandemic. We are asked to help build a world where: fewer children are infected, fewer children are vulnerable to the impact of HIV/AIDS, and an increasing number of boys and girls are protected in a world that upholds their rights and nurtures them into healthy adulthood.
In 1996, 1,000 children died each day from AIDS and 1,000 more became infected with HIV. More than 90 percent of these children live in developing countries where health services are already under tremendous strain. When we think about HIV and children we think of one infected infant or child. Unfortunately, children with AIDS often indicate entire families with AIDS. Ninety percent of infected children are born to infected mothers, who were primarily infected by their male partners, often the child's father. In every country, the number of children with one or both parents infected far exceeds the number of children who already have been orphaned by this disease. More than 9 million children have lost their mother to HIV. Sadly, these children begin to experience loss and suffering long before their parent's death. Like their parents, they are exposed to prejudice and social exclusion. And unlike children who lose one family member to cancer or other diseases, they often lose both parents and even other siblings.
The grief and loss these children endure forces us to look at our role as agents of change. We can help by working in the spirit of hope and grace, of healing and reconciliation, of love and perseverance.
The absence of a cure for AIDS does not mean that all healing is beyond our reach. "To heal" comes from a Latin root word that means "to make whole." So healing is not only physical, it must include responses to indifference, mistrust, anger, hatred, prejudice, ignorance, and estrangement. This is possible only when we ask ourselves hard questions. How can we counter indifference and mistrust? How can we lessen ignorance and prejudice? Are there seeds of anger and hatred in ourselves?
Alarmingly, our society may contribute to destructive behaviors that we publicly condemn. Nationally and internationally, disease and drug use thrive in poverty-stricken communities. Discrimination and exclusion also are abundant. Most often, thoughtless sexual behavior and the use of mind-numbing chemicals are behaviors of people who do not like themselves, who have internalized a lifetime of negative messages images, who feel estranged, marginalized and powerless, and therefore value their lives and their health less than others. Prejudice against these people in our society remains a continuing barrier to effective communication about HIV disease. AIDS is a powerful reminder that ignorance and injustice are themselves insidious diseases that endanger the entire world community.
Today, children around the world face lifetime risks for HIV infection. These include sexual exploitation and abuse, drug use, risky sexual behavior, and poor access to accurate information, education and health care. How many more young people will be lost before we realize that a problem as complex as AIDS cannot be solved by simple slogans like "Just say no?" This illness is preventable, but to be successful, we must provide children with access to every means of prevention. They also need critical thinking skills, and the ability to take positive steps in the complicated reality of their lives.
This epidemic has cost us dearly, but it doesn't have to continue to do so. Losing our children is a price we can no longer pay. I ask you to join me in "thinking globally and acting locally." In each child affected by this virus, no matter, where they live on the globe, see the face of your own child. World AIDS day is great opportunity to increase understanding and unity regarding this terrible disease. Help us create an intelligent, compassionate and committed response to the problem. Do your part to replace fear with empathy and wisdom, despair with hope and simple kindness, and estrangement with reconciliation. Our children are depending on us to build families, communities and cultures that are worthy of them, that protect their bodies and spirits. To understand this epidemic is to understand human connectedness. The children of the world are looking to us to recognize and honor that connectedness.
NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo available from Washington Dept. of Health. Call Matt Ashworth at 360/753-0757
CONTACT: Washington State Deptartment of Health Matt Ashworth, 360/753-0757 mia0303.hub.doh.wa.gov http://epsilon.doh.wa.gov/
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