Importance of HIV and Aids Education
There is an age-old advice, ‘Prevention is better than cure’. Education and Awareness of HIV and Aids are important weapon to prevent and fight against the baseless fears of the disease.
Medical science has contributed a lot to us but has failed to tame AIDS, an eroding disease. The word AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is caused by the human immune deficiency virus known as HIV. It spreads through fornication. Persons are found to be effected by this disease after blood transfusion. This dreadful disease is now spreading across the world like a forest conflagration, However, AIDS contamination occurs only through body- contact of victims.
It was first detected in the U.S.A in 1981 and thereafter it was also noticed in Europe. In India the first case of an AIDS patient was detected in Bombay in 1986. AIDS has spread so speedily in India that there is at present hardly any state which is immune from it. The worst affected places are Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi and Manipur. In 1997 the number of AIDS patients has crossed the limit of 500.
The symptoms of the dangerous disease are not detected for 4-5 years. The incubation period varies from five months to five years. This disease is marked by loose motion, unexplained fever, and loss of weight, night sweats and excessive pain.
It is stated that there is no known cure against this disease. There are some foreign injections which bring some relief to the sufferer but they are too costly for Indians patients.
Blood should be given to one after being confirmed that it is free from HIV positive virus. Even an innocent person may have chance to fall a prey to this disease. Hence, we should not hate such persons or isolate them from society, but nurse and help them and be sympathetically with them since AIDS is not an infectious disease. Needless to say, most people have baseless fear about this disease. An AIDS patient is often boy-cotted by his own family. Any way the situation is changing slightly. To save humanity from the scotches of AIDS, there is a need for education and awareness of HIV and Aids. The National AIDS control programmes should he decentralized to strengthen WV prevention, control and care activities. In fact, the real healing touch must come from people.
