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Mon. Dec. 1, 2003
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Health & Science > Health > General Health
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World AIDS Day 2003
Live and Let Live
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By
Health & Science Staff
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| I feel angry, I feel distressed, I feel helpless... to live in a world where we have the means, we have the resources, to be able to help all these patients - what is lacking is the political will. – UN Secretary General Kofi Anan to the BBC.
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5 million people were newly infected with the HIV virus in 2003, bringing the total number of people living with AIDS around the world to 40 million, 2.5 million of whom are children under the age of 15. 3 million people died of AIDS in 2003 alone, with the brunt of the disease hitting sub-Saharan Africa, while Asia and the Pacific as well as Eastern Europe and Central Asia continue to experience an ever-expanding epidemic.
AIDS, the disease, is strongly associated in the minds of people in many regions of the world with 'immoral behavior', namely extra-marital sexual activities and drug-abuse. Although this might or might not be the case for the patient himself, the stigma accompanying the disease has resulted in an increasingly difficult situation where patients find it difficult, or are even reluctant, to approach a doctor for treatment. Patients are also in many cases shunned by the community and family members, with the result of a lonely, isolated life of debilitating disease.
We can change this.
Open discussion, properly understanding the disease and showing compassion to the ill can do a world of good in managing a disease that has reached such proportions that it has dragged some economies decades backwards.
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