Salutations! Seeing as I have never officially blogged before, nor gotten much exposure to the New York Times, I stumbled upon an article that I felt compelled to write about after discovering the staggering statistics.
While flipping through the ink filled pages of the New York Times, I came across article after article of probably some very interesting stories, yet after the first few paragraphs none were able to sustain my interest. Finally, when I had finished looking through the whole newspaper, defeat settled over me, realizing I had yet to find a topic that I could possibly comment on for this particular blog. I decided to take another look; maybe I missed some hidden gem. There it was, page A22 of the Editorials/Letters section at the bottom of the page, a topic that never ceases to interest me—“The Real Numbers on H.I.V.”
This topic may be a little taboo for a Convergent Journalism class, but it is something real and should be spoken about because maybe the awareness could possibly shed some light on a very disturbing issue. Although the article was relatively small, a measly peanut butter and jelly sandwich in comparison to say, a six- dollar burger at Carl’s Jr., it packed quite a bit of information that I found particularly alarming.
Using new technology to formulate more precise estimates, the article reported: “56,000 people around the country became newly infected [with H.I.V.] in 2006, well above the 40,000 cited in recent years.” The article continued to describe how the numbers are higher in African American and Hispanic populations as well as gay and bisexual men. Another aspect of the article that I found interesting was that “the C.D.C. [Center for Disease Control] spends some $750 million a year to prevent new infections.” What I want to know is where is all that money going? Is it really being used effectively? Is it reaching the populations that need it the most? Are people even educated about the severity of this epidemic or are they and they just simply don’t care?
Looking into this topic further, I visited www.cdc.gov/hiv for more information. In their daily news section they featured an article from http://www.news-observer.com talking about North Carolina’s sex education program and how they only teach abstinence. Well news flash! It’s not only North Carolina that teaches the abstinence only method, my public high school in California also follows that standard. Although I personally believe in remaining sexually pure until marriage, I think that young people who are sexually active should learn about alternate methods of staying protected other than just remaining abstinent.
A survey conducted showed that “60-70 percent of North Carolina high school seniors have had intercourse” and the article reported that in “the past five years, rates of STDs, including HIV/AIDS, have increased among state youths ages 15 to 19.” I don’t know when the No Child Left Behind Act is going to get the memo, but obviously the abstinence only method is not really working.
