This article talks about the inequality facing rural nations in the United States with rising rates of HIV/AIDS infections. Pastor Brenda Byrth is a pastor in the bible who is committed to educating and assisting her community and those infected with HIV/AIDs.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic does not just affect third world countries; this epidemic is affecting communities in our nation as well. Throughout the Southeastern United States, the HIV/AIDS rates are consistently higher than any other region in the United States, with rates about 9.2 per 100,000. Rural areas like those across the Bible-Belt are continuing to face increasing rates of HIV/AIDS infection and this is due to the same issues that are affecting third world countries with increasing rates of infection: lack of education, stigma, and lack of funding.
“The stigma starts with sex, says Dr. Leandro A. Mena, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Many socially conservative residents of the Deep South have a hard time talking about sex with their children, never mind discussions about condoms with complete strangers.” If parents can’t begin to talk about sex with their children, the kids will begin to have sex without knowing how to protect themselves not just from having babies, but from becoming infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Many schools in the south completely omit sex education and teach kids to practice abstinence which clearly isn’t working.
Pastor Byrth is one of the only people in her community to attempt to teach the children and anyone else that is willing to listen about sex education during her monthly HIV/AIDs awareness meetings and though her crowd is small, she is doing the best she can to reach her audience.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/28/health/hiv-aids-southeast-rural-south-carolina/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
9 comments:
That is interesting I never noticed that the south had more HIV/AIDs prevalence. I thought big cities such as NYC, Miami etc would have more. The reasoning definitely makes sense because we are only taught about abstinence I never knew other places actually taught about sex. I mean we heard some about contraceptives but while we learned about it it was mostly a joke or awkward and they still pushed forth abstimence than really give us the info needed. No one wants to talk. Parents don't want to talk to child, child doesn't want to talk to parents or teachers. They are most comfortable with peers but peers usually know as much as they do no matter how "experienced" they may be
Shauntel,
I found the quote from Dr. Leandro A. Mena very interesting. I agree that many parents do not want to talk to their children about sex, therefore they have to find out from friends or on the television. Unfortunately, this stigma causes many unwanted pregnancies, and HIV/AIDS. The simple “birds and bees” talk should show adolescents that sex is healthy and should be done when completely ready. Also, with someone you can trust, in a monogamous relationship with protection. I commend Pastor Byrth for her willingness to be the voice for her community. I hope more people will follow in her footsteps. Change can help on the local level.
This is a very interesting article. You always hear about HIV/AIDS but it is true that is not talked enough about in schools. Since schools are only talking about practicing abstinence kids are not fully aware of how easily the disease can spread. Those rates are some very scary numbers and will probably continue to get higher since not enough is being done.
Wow how ironic it is that I'm reading this blog on what is considered to be World HIV/AIDS awardness day. HIV/AIDS is a world wide epidemic and much awareness must be raised in order to get the world out across the globe. Although the best way to prevent this disease is through abstinence.
I know HIV/AIDS was a big deal but I didnt know that 9.2 people are diagnosed out of every 100,000 in the southern united states. I wonder if they are making some improvements towards curring this disease. I know the UN called its first ever high level summit for a health related disease in 2001 in concerns to AIDS. The only other high level summit ever call was several years later on Lifestyle disease which kill 36 millon people each year. I hoe some one finds a cure soon so several lives can be spared.
I disagree with Dr. Leandro A. Mena when she says that children will have sex without knowing how to protect themselves. We are all taught in school about condoms whether it deals with abstinence or full discussions on sex. We've all had sex ed classes and should have learned the importance of a condom. It's up to the children to use this knowledge.
There really needs to be more education to adolescents in the U.S., because with the proper education, young people will now how to protect themselves. People really need to get past the feeling of being too unconfortable to talk about sex, because really, isn't it worth the possible awkwardness to make young people aware and therby keep them from contracting these STDs?
You mentioned that HIV/AIDS has resulted in a lack of education. I read an article earlier today that an honor student and star athlete is suing a prestigious school for denying his admission because he has HIV. I fell that the school didn't want their reputation tainted because they admitted someone who has HIV/AIDS. This is very unfair and unjust. A person having HIV/AIDS is no reason to deny them admission.
I am not sure if the stigma of Aids/HIV will ever be lifted. AIDS/HIV really scares people and I am really suprised that there is not a cure. The sad reality is that yes, we need to educate our kids on protection rather than just abstinence, but they probably could have a cure and wouldn't administer to everyone because of our greedy nature to make money.
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