1st December is World Aids Day

To mark World Aids Day, you are invited to watch the film MASKED. This film deals with the stigma that is still attached to HIV and Aids in Ireland and around the world. It will be shown between 2 and 4pm in Cobh YMCA on Wednesday 1^st December. The event is free and refreshments are available. An interactive visual display will be on show to raise awareness of the issues that are around HIV/Aids.

Whilst medicine and treatment can control the symptoms and education has helped to reduce the number of cases of HIV in Ireland, the stigma surrounding it is still very real. Many people do not know the basic facts about HIV and this perpetuates the myths about it. You CANNOT contract HIV from toilets, from kissing, from handshaking…. These are some of the myths that people still believe. A recent study showed that of all the cases in the UK today, there are still a quarter of people who do not even know they are infected.

Globally there are over 33 million people with HIV/Aids. Two thirds, that is over 22 million are in Sub-Saharan Africa, where access to education and medicine and treatment is a far cry from what we here in Ireland are used to. HIV/Aids is a huge threat to the development of these countries, already THE poorest countries in the world.

By stopping and considering the effect of this global issue today, on World Aids Day, perhaps the problems that HIV and Aids presents can be brought to the political agenda. The issues are not just health though – they are to do with education, economics, communications, development and justice.

Don’t stigmatise HIV/Aids – unmask it; face up to it.