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What is there to talk about that has not been talked about already- the impact that HIV/AIDS has on families, businesses, the GDP, the GNP, the suffering and self destruction if you fail to abstain from sex, condomise, the trauma, the stigma, the abandonment and ill-treatment, the hunt for a cure, ARV’s, stats.
I think the word has pretty much been spread i.e. use condoms to protect yourself. Abstain from sex to avoid possible diseases. Get tested to know your status. Do not have multiple sex partners etc.
On the contrary there are a few ongoing questions:
If almost all South Africans (rural and urban) are informed and educated about HIV/AIDS,
Why is it that our youth and adults still fall victim to this pandemic?
Why do people believe that an inyanga/witch doctor’s advice can cure AIDS?
Why is it progressively becoming the number one cause of mortality in SA?
Do we have a problem of ignorance?
What we should recognize about the pandemic is that it is not disgraceful-anyone can be infected in different ways but it’s not just another disease either, in truth AIDS is a malicious pest and should be treated like one. Love life and Khomanani advertisements should be tremendously explicit, honest and strikingly real. They should show (with consent of course) the condition of people infected with AIDS, lying on their death beds- dying, grasping for breathe, unable to help themselves, longing to eat an ordinary meal, wishing they could help themselves to the lavatory, praying to God for just one normal day.
Now you may argue that this kind of depiction is dehumanizing but I conversely feel that desisting from illustrating these insensitive truths is inhumane.
I believe that it’s time to get real graphic because scientists and researchers of the cure are taking too damn long. Whether they have more pressing concerns on their agenda- we’ll never know. What we do know is that this bug is invading our homes with the intention of devastating and wiping out our communities
If scientists can figure out how to go to the moon, trace your DNA with a strand of hair, invent space shuttles, etc. what is it about finding this cure that does not sit well with them (or should I say their pockets)?
I feel that campaigns and talks about the epidemic are becoming a form of tired expression. Discussions of nutrition for boosting the immune system and taking ARV’s are becoming dreary and much too obvious. We’re not looking for a way to live with the disease- we need a cure damn it!
I feel that every sensible citizen should make it his/her social responsibility to becoming aggressive with the pest.
We need to get militant with this!
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