Besides the media, my high school supplied me with some information about AIDS, even though it is a vague memory from my sophomore year. I do remember, however, that AIDS was a lesson taught with the STD unit. Nevertheless, despite the seriousness of the virus, less than one class period was spent covering it. There was no test on the subject matter, no guest speaker about AIDS, quite frankly there was no sense of urgency or importance in the teaching of AIDS. Due to the lack of information, it would seem to create a sense that the disease was found far away from Baldwinsville, yet from the media a contrasting image is created. Because I didn’t take my health class seriously, it is apparent that the little media coverage I had witnessed obviously influenced my opinions about AIDS in my community more that formal sexual education.
Upon further examination of the Syracuse area, even though my guesses were over the actual AIDS rates of the city, there still seems to be an AIDS problem in the city based upon statistical data. The cumulative AIDS rate for the United States is 328 cases per 100,000 people, yet in Syracuse the rate is 557 per 100,000, nearly 60% higher than the national rate. Numbers can only tell so much, and for that matter only do so much (4). What I mean to say is it is the job of the inhabitants of the Syracuse area to take measures to help combat AIDS. In a recent presentation on HIV/AIDS Surveillance, Kelly Firenze of the New York State Department of Health stated how Syracuse University is doing little as far as outreach to help those in the community afflicted with AIDS. Syracuse University, with a total student population of roughly 12,000, is located centrally in the 13210 Syracuse zip code, the same zip code as a major HIV/AIDS infected community in the Syracuse area, Westcott. Westcott and the 13210 zip code, not including the Syracuse University student population, have a cumulative AIDS rate closer to 650 cases per 100,000. The University has a major influence on the cities inhabitants and those of the surrounding community, and for its students not to be doing anything about the AIDS issue in their backyard is both disheartening and frustrating (4).
(Pictures Taken From:
http://www.davidmetraux.com/redcross/images/syracuseuniversity.jpg
www.answers.com/