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Perhaps my ignorance came from a lack of education on the subject in school. I attended kindergarten through grade 12 in the West Hartford Public School system. The last time I took a formal health class was the summer of 2004. But my professor only briefly and awkwardly mentioned HIV/AIDS as one of a bunch of sexually transmitted diseases, because we didn’t have enough time to cover anything in depth in this 7 day course. Because I felt my foundation of knowledge about the disease was not very strong, I decided to begin investigating the curriculum in the West Harford Public School system— it could be there that I would gain some insight into where I’d gone astray in understanding the global issue fully. Maybe it wasn’t that I was oblivious, and my blame could be attributed outwards. I quickly found the goals of Health Curriculum, broken up by grade, on the school system website. After searching through everything, the only health classes that even mentioned HIV/AIDS in their goals are the 7th grade and 10th grade curriculums, demonstrating to me that the topic is not a priority.
In 7th grade: Growth and Development – HIV/AIDS: What exactly is HIV/AIDS? Where do I get accurate information? · Knows the stages and symptoms of HIV/AIDS, including methods of transmission · Explains the ways to protect oneself from HIV/AIDS, including abstinence · Knows how to access community resources and adults to help a person with HIV/AIDS or his/her family /friends · Knows how to get accurate, updated information about AIDS and HIV from a variety of resources, including the Internet (6)
In 7th grade, we went over all of the aforementioned information on AIDS. But honestly, there is only so much that can be taught to a twelve year old on these subjects. There is no way that the different types of intercourse, and intravenous drugs, two main points relating to this disease, could be addressed to a bunch of 7th graders. (There’s also no way that the PTA would allow this to happen). And, in the 10th grade health curriculum, it states: Human Growth and Development-Relationships and Sexuality:What skills do I need to maintain safe and healthy relationships? How can I find valid, current information and resources?
Along with this, I don’t ever recall reading an article in our school newspaper, Hall Highlights, about AIDS or HIV. I sat through many an “auditorium talk” in my middle and high school days. Among the topics discussed: driving drunk, gamblers anonymous, and teenage pregnancy. Basically—nothing about the epidemic.
The last time that I was formally taught about HIV and AIDS was summer 2005 at the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine (at Babson College in Boston, MA). It was there that I received the insight into this global phenomenon. The program devoted about half of one of the ten days to addressing the problem, by means of a plenary talk from a public health official about the extent of the issue around the world. We also had the amazing opportunity to talk with a member of the Boston community living their day-to-day life with the disease. Despite this experience, coming into freshman seminar, I felt nothing even remotely close to a confident, knowledgeable person on the topic. Though getting the opportunity to talk with someone infected was a once in a lifetime chance, that opened my eyes to the gravity of the situation, I still felt like National Youth Leadership Forum hadn’t helped me to understand the whole picture. The woman that came to speak with us came from an extremely low income area in the inner city of Boston, and was African American. These memories only reinforced my naïve thoughts that there was a very select population—besides homosexual males—that are living with HIV/AIDS; it played into my preconceived notions impeccably. While the time was devoted to learning about AIDS while at the Forum, it just seemed very out of context for me. It’s not that I just did not comprehend its overwhelmingly widespread nature; I just don’t think I came away with a feeling that it could be affecting me so close to home.
Perhaps it was the influence of the media…or lack thereof? There is only one newspaper that is followed by my family (and by many in my area), The Hartford Courant, and I can’t recall seeing much of anything relating to the epidemic. While perusing through the newspaper several times, I have come upon page 4 of the second section, “Connecticut.” There, I found “In Search of Support” (1) which consists of a long list of ailments and conditions, such as alcoholism and domestic abuse, as well as phone numbers and addresses of which someone could use if they needed to contact someone about their condition. AIDS appears first on this list, but don’t be fooled—this is only because the list is alphabetized. Similarly, “Health Notes,” (2) appears on page 4. It is another list of where people can turn for help. Once it specifically gave details about a “sponsored symposium on the ‘down low’ phenomenon and HIV risk amongst women.” “In Search of Support” and “Health Notes” appear quite frequently in the Hartford Courant. Therefore, it is evident that these articles acknowledge the sheer existence of the problem, and the fact that those living with the disease often need support. While this holds true, I found the “articles” tucked away into the middle pages of one of the center sections. This makes for very few eyes ever finding them. Would someone with AIDS even see these listings, which were put there just to help them out? I just can’t think that this placement was in the newspapers’ best efforts to spread the word about the epidemic.
After searching through the archives of the paper, I came across two recent articles: “Reaching Out: Okafor Takes Initiative to South Africa” (3) and “The Power of Helping: Bill Clinton’s Book Urges us All to Get More Involved” (4). The former I discovered on the first page of the sports section. The purpose of the article is not to inform the citizens of Greater Hartford/Hartford County about HIV/AIDS, which is evident through the fact that it’s in the sports section, and that the disease is not mentioned until the sixth paragraph. It is more to admire Emeka Okafor, a former UConn Men’s Basketball superstar, for starting a foundation in Africa to help raise money and awareness about AIDS. But, the article puts the disease itself on the backburner. With the exception of two sentences; it’s a pure praise of Okafor. Not to mention, the part about AIDS itself is about it being an issue in Africa, not here at home. The second article, found on the first page of “Life,” section D of the newspaper, is all about a book written by Bill Clinton in which we are told that ‘we should try and give of ourselves to help change the world.” Though AIDS is in fact mentioned in the second sentence of the writing, it is merely mentioned among a list of things, all acknowledging Clinton’s “great” actions to try and make Africa a better place. And again, AIDS in the United States went unmentioned. I recently found “HIV Infections Spur Blood Bank Closings” (5) in “World News” of the Hartford Courant. Basically, this is another one of many articles reaffirming the lack of local press coverage. Instead of informing the readers that people just down the street are suffering, readers were told of the problems in Peru. The article included statistics of how many Peruvians are HIV positive, right in the reading. The fact that HIV and AIDS around the world are being so heavily promoted is unnerving. I’ve never seen these types of statistics about Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut or even the United States in an article.
I have been exposed to HIV/AIDS via MTV and through Gap’s “Red” campaign, but these too have overpoweringly steered me to orient the disease with other parts of the world. Though MTV urges adolescents and their partners to get tested for HIV, at the same time I can remember specifically one ad with a powerfully shocking statistic of AIDS in Africa: 42 million people are infected.
As I consider myself to be well-educated and somewhat “worldly”, I can’t help but feel that the fact that before coming into this class I was unaware and ignorant to the HIV/AIDS situation in Hartford County is unacceptable. While it does not affect me personally, my neighbors are suffering. How could I have been so oblivious to these facts? I was disappointed at how inaccurate my estimation was, especially considering the city is literally right next door. I have learned that there is a lot of information to be taught about AIDS if we, as a community, want to be knowledgeable of those around us, and be able to help them. I was taken aback by some of the statistics I learned, and I can only hope that others will become more conscious of the issue. |