I am so happy that the M&M Simulation is over!!!! I understand that HIV is no longer a death sentence, but I already know that I would have an extremely hard time accepting and dealing with the disease if I was HIV positive. I would have to get used to the routine of making pills apart of my day to day routine. It takes a lot of discipline, because I was messing up on my pill routine on the first day. The emotional aspect of it is also very challenging. When I told a few people I was pretending to be HIV positive for a class, their reaction was kind of rude. I can only imagine their reaction if I was really HIV positive. I would never want to share my status with certain people for this reason. The QOTW makes me think about what the world will be like 50 years from now. So many people predict that everyone will have chips planted inside of them in order for the government to track them. I do not want any type of device inserted into my body. I do not think that HIV positive individuals should be tracked due to their status. I do not think that this will decrease the number of HIV cases. The course is coming to an end, but I will definitely take the information I learned with me throughout life.
Did You Know?
Less than 40% of young people globally have correct basic knowledge on HIV. Only a third of HIV positive pregnant women receive antiretrovirals to prevent HIV transmission to their babies. Only a minority of the most at risk groups have access to HIV prevention programmes(UNAIDS, 2008). Can you see why this is a problem? For this reason new HIV prevention technologies has become the focus for the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS meeting in London. New HIV prevention technologies include vaccines, microbicides and other developing methods that could play a role in the transmission rate (UNAIDS, 2008). This will require global partnership among scientists, private sector, communities and the government (UNAIDS, 2008). I admire the hard work of the organization, but I am not very opptimistic about scientists finding a vaccine for HIV. I support all the research and I really hope that one is found, but I am not as positive about it as the organization is. My reason for this is due to the fact that there has never been a vaccine found for a virus. I look forward to learning much more about HIV from developing research.
Web: UNAIDS. 5 November 2008. Retrieved November 11, 2009 from, http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2008/20081105_Focus_new_HIV_prev_tech.asp
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I’m glad that the M&M project is done too! It was annoying having to remember to take all these medications and swallowing them since some of them were so big. At times I felt tempted chewing on them since I knew they were m&m’s and not the real pill. I don’t know why people would be rude if you’re doing a simulation of taking pills as a HIV positive person. I don’t blame you for not wanting to tell people your status if you were really infected. I hope that in 50 years that the government doesn’t implement putting chips in people since I’ve heard that this would be a sign of the devil!!! Sometimes the future scares me because I just feel like one day the government will do something crazy in just coming up with some wild idea where people’s lifestyle will be drastically changed as a result.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I felt too Kiersten! One of the most powerful things I had gained from this class was realizing that HIV was not a death sentence and that many people lived for many years with proper treatment. I never really thought of how challenging a treatment regimen would be.
ReplyDeleteTelling people was what I thought would be the toughest part of the experiment..until I got onto the pill regime. Taking so many ills a day was ridiculous. I usually take 4 vitamins a day and I thought that was a lot. I forgot so many times! I had to have my girlfriend help keep my schedule because I am so absent minded. I would have to drastically change my lifestyle if I was really infected. I'm glad it was only a simulation!
ReplyDeleteMe too! I started to think that week would never end. We're so fortunate to have the option of stopping after just 1 week, now we can only imagine it would be like doing that fr an entire lifetime.
ReplyDeleteThe QOTW had me doing a lot of thinking also; is this what our world leaders really want for us? Do they really think segregation would make the world a better/healthier place? Did we Americans not learn anything from ur history books? It's really interesting to hear things like that from both Cuba and Indonesia, I hope both countries decide against their ideas