Five Ways to Create an AIDS-Free World
In preparation for the annual observance of World AIDS Day on December 1, Don Messer (STH ’66, GRS ’69) wrote an article for United Methodist Insight, a forum for discerning God’s will in the United Methodist Church, which highlights ways the UMC and others might support those who’ve lived and died from the disease.
By: Don Messer (STH ’66, GRS ’69)
Several years ago I wrote a short book entitled “52 Ways to Create An AIDS-Free World” in which I argued that every person is called to take personal and social responsibility for HIV and AIDS education and prevention. The good news is that the disease is not genetic; it is completely preventable. There is no known cure or vaccine, but there are steps everyone can take to reduce and eliminate transmission of the virus. Each of us can make a difference.
Today I am not going to repeat all 52 ways—but I am going to lift up five ways that you can protect yourself and your loved ones. Five ways that will help change the course of history in the Philippines from a rising epidemic to a declining one. My goal today is to be candid, not controversial. Yet I realize that some of what I say may be upsetting to some people because of their religious, political or personal views. But stopping the epidemic requires truth-telling and honest conversation.
Hate the disease, not the people infected.
First, hate the disease, not the people infected. Too often people infected are treated as pariahs, scorned by family and friends, marginalized and stigmatized by church and society. The virus is our enemy, not the people infected and affected by the disease.
Fear and mistreatment of persons living with HIV continues to spread the disease in the world. People don’t get tested or treated because of how they think people will react. Repeatedly I have been told by people living with HIV that “worse than the disease is how people treat you.”
Just this week I read in the New York Times ( 10/27/19) about the serious outbreak of HIV in the small city of Ratodero, Pakistan. Nine hundred children have been tested for HIV. Further testing suggests that one in every 200 citizens is infected. Panic and fear are spreading. Some are claiming it is “God’s affliction” on them. One man killed his infected wife by strangling her. Another woman was tied to a tree by her family to shame her.
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