WORLD AIDS DAY 2014
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 01 Dec 2014
For the past twenty six years, concerned individuals, governments and health institutions have observed WORLD AIDS DAY on December 1st. All around the world people are made aware of HIV/AIDS through various educational activities. This day is also an occasion to show solidarity with HIV positive individuals, be part of the continuing effort to stop the spread of the HIV virus and to remember those who have died from AIDS.
?Getting to Zero? and achieving an AIDS-free generation are themes that remind us of a difficult goal.
Health authorities in the Philippines estimate that HIV positive cases are expected to exceed 30,000 by the end of 2014. Most belong to the 15 to 24 yr age bracket. Another worrisome statistic is that 16 new cases are documented daily.
More than 35 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS. Since the start of the pandemic, around 39 million have died from HIV/AIDS related illnesses.
Last September 1, 2013, former WBO heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison passed away in a Nebraska hospital. He was tested positive for HIV in 1996 but continued to live in denial, insisting that the test was a false positive. He even had a fight in Japan a few months after testing positive in Las Vegas and had two more fights in 2007 and 2008.
There was no mention of AIDS in Morrison?s death certificate which stated septic shock due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.
How Morrison dealt with his HIV status may have been tragic but it did help to improve safety in boxing and to make the authorities aware of the potential danger of the AIDS virus in various contact sports where blood is spilled on a regular basis.
Another prominent boxer who had HIV/AIDS is Esteban de Jes?s of Puerto Rico, who died in 1989. He was a former world lightweight champion who engaged Panamanian great Roberto Duran in one of boxing?s compelling trilogies.
Going back to the increasing number of cases here in the Philippines, the powers that be in charge of contact sports would be prudent to review their HIV testing policy.
A very important fact to keep in mind is that for every case that has been reported, at least 10 are undetected or unreported, meaning that potentially there could be at least 90,000 individuals who are infected but do not know they have HIV.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) attacks the immune system and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is the result of the immune system being destroyed, which makes the infected individual prone to various infections and tumors. HIV is passed through sexual contact, though infected blood, and intrapartum or perinatally from an HIV positive mother to infant.
Education is the best tool to stop the spread of HIV. Read about it and talk about with your friends on how to prevent its transmission. The treatment for AIDS is also readily available and the disease is no longer a death sentence.
If you feel you need to get tested or unsure of your HIV status, there are many testing centers available where the results are confidential.
Be safe.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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