Blog #12

This class by far has been well worth the tuition that I have paid. I won’t name the class, but a few semester ago I had a class that all we did was stand around. I learned absolutely nothing. I was mad at the end of the semester, I remember calling home and telling my mother how waste of a time it was for me to take this class. Well we are at the end of the semester and I am proud to say that I survived, there were a couple of weeks that I thought I wasn’t going to make it. I can proudly say that this class has changed my life for the better. I am more educated about the world that I live in. Before this class, like I have said before I have had probably heard the words HIV/AIDS 5 times my whole life and why I even heard that many times I have no idea. But now that I think about it, it’s disturbing. This virus that has taken so many lives and I never knew about it. Well that has changed now, I bother my mother and sister and friends with the new information that I have learned. I know I will be able to inform others of the information that I gained in this class for the future and hopefully make a small difference.

I was in Target the other day, and long behold they had a Starbucks (I live in a county where there is no Starbucks :( ) I was waiting in line looking at everything they had, and did you know Starbucks is a supporter for AIDS? On December 1st (World AIDS day) Starbucks will contribute 5 cents for every drink that they make that day to save lives in Africa. So head to Starbucks!

Did you know…
I know many of us right now are not ready for kids but think in the future… http://www.aidskids.org/ is in the need for adoptive or foster parents. 134,000 children are in need to be adopted.

So we all know the safest way of avoiding HIV is to use protection i.e. condoms. Well to put your mind at ease the U.S. center for disease and control put 20 different brands of condoms to the test. ALL 20 condoms met all national and international standards. Tests include filling condoms with 17-18 liters of air testing to see if they would break (Brownstein, 2009). They all passed. Some brands went through extra testing by filling the condoms up with 25 liters of air, including products from Durex, Lifestyles, and Trojan, they never broke in the 500-600 tries. “All the condoms were also submerged in water to check for leaks” (Brownstein, 2009).
This is just to show that it is the responsibility of the person using the condom, to learn to how to properly use the condom, by knowing how much air should be at the tip, to avoid falling off, opening the package carefully avoiding any tearing, and not using expired condoms.

Brownstein, J. 2009. The Body: The complete HIV/AIDS resource. Consumer Reports Puts 20 Condoms to the Test. Retrieved November 18, 2009. From http://www.thebody.com/content/art54344.html

DID YOU KNOW…
According to http://www.thebody.com/ , HIV/AIDS fact of the days is…
By the end of 2003, there were 12 million children orphaned by AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

What I am learning

I just finished up my summary for the M&M simulation, I really did enjoy this project it gave me a real knowledge of what it is like to be HIV positive. All of the assignments/modules that we have done so far I have always enjoyed and besides the work that it included I did like doing them and always learned something from them. However, this assignment I don't think I could ever read or write to really understand what it like to be HIV positive. The routines one has to endure the understanding of what medications could to your body or the foods the may have to be eliminated so that one may avoid side effects. It is something that is never ending. During the simulation I found myself becoming aggravated that I wasn't able to swallow the peanut M&M, and according to the packet that is about half the size of some of the pills one would have to take. The schedule that I had made myself got in the way of my work schedule and at the end of the day realized that if this was a real scenario, the medications would win, not work. I really did learn a lot from this project and wish this class had more of them.


DID YOU KNOW...

A South African version of Sesame Street.
Watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eXlNn-C8BY&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnhcZGOvDfM

The South African version of the children's educational programme Sesame Street has introduced an HIV positive character.
The programme, aimed at very young children, wants to show that those living with HIV are no different to others and should be treated as such.

This show made U.S. politicians nervous that this character would appear in the U.S.

week 9

So what I have learned in this class, could never be matched to any other class that I have taken so far, I am not sure if it is just me, but I think about this class at least 6 times a day, this week more than others because of the M&M simulation, but this class and information that we have learned is not comparable to any other class. With the discussion topics I have had more in-depth conversations with my family than I have ever before. As much as think about this class, I can't wait for it to be over with, but like any other class that I have taken once it is over, usually the material that I have learned is gone, for this class, not so much. It is something that I will carry on and refer to for the rest of my life, I feel I have a one up on others, because I know so much more about this topic, than most people do.

For a couple of weeks now I have been selling candy for the HugMe organization. This is is where I have realized people really don't anything about HIV or care to know and there really is a stigma out there regarding HIV/AIDS. It has to the point for me now where I tell people I am selling candy for an organization in Orlando. I sold a couple of candy bars to a women, I believe she is in her mid 50's. After she bought the candy, she asked where the money was going and I told her and the minute I said HIV she just looked at me with a dumbfounded look. The only thing she said back to me was at least the money is staying within the U.S.... If I would have told her what charity it was and what the money was for I really don't think she would have bought anything. Sad :(

DID YOU KNOW...
"HIV develops very rapidly among infants and children, and, without treatment, a third of infected children will die of AIDS before their first birthday, with half dying before they are two. In 2007, there were 270,000 deaths attributed to HIV in under-15s, most of which could have been prevented through early diagnosis and effective treatment. Though the number of children receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) has increased significantly in recent years, at the end of 2008 less than 40% of the 730,000 children needing ART in lower- and middle-income countries were receiving it"(2009, HIV/AIDS treatment).



(2009)Avert.HIV & AIDS Treatment. Received November 4, 2009. From http://www.avert.org/hiv-children.htm