On Monday morning, a black garbage bag covered the Wildcat family statue on the mall. This wasn’t an act of vandalism, but an attempt to get students and faculty to reflect on the seriousness of AIDS and HIV during World AIDS Week, which began Monday and ends Friday.
Several organizations and groups teamed up to cover artwork and various statues around campus to provide information on the pandemic and promote healthy, safe sex practices. These groups could have taken a more passive approach and just distributed flyers, protested by the administration building and pinned signs onto Heritage Hill. But these activists took a proactive approach in spreading information, and hopefully this obvious outreach will resonate with all onlookers. As World AIDS Week coordinator Chinenye Anako put it, “”HIV affects everyone.”” Justin Peterson, director of outreach for AIDS SAFE, said that the event this year is much bigger than it was in the past so that “”everybody sees it real prominently.”” The plastic bags are hard to ignore, and AIDS is something that should not be ignored or brushed over. Peterson also mentioned in yesterday’s Arizona Daily Wildcat that younger people are disproportionately affected by AIDS because they are not always as careful as they should be. With that in mind, college students should be more cautious in sexual encounters.
Even so, HIV does not just affect one specific group of people. If everyone is susceptible, it’s necessary for campus organizations to spread the word. After all, the UA campus is home to people of all ages.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1,106,400 persons in the United States were living with HIV infection, with 21 percent undiagnosed in 2006. Worldwide, there are over 33 million people living with AIDS. The problem of AIDS must be tackled, and it looks as if awareness groups are taking proper measures at accomplishing this.
— Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They include Alex Dalenberg, Laura Donovan, Justyn Dillingham and Heather Price-Wright.
