December 1st is World AIDS Day. This article, from June 2012, was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend who was pursuing her Masters in Public Health. For a group project in epidemiology, she had tested a survey mechanism among college undergrads—a disturbing number of whom responded that they did not understand what “HIV” meant. We began ruminating on how “young people” (not substantially younger than ourselves) could be so clueless about a disease that had had such a devastating impact within recent memory. My question: Would this lack of awareness eventually result in a resurgence of a disease that, in truth, has never really gone away? —AMH
In the 30 years since the first cases of HIV were diagnosed in the United States, almost 620,000 people have died of AIDS in this country. In a very short period in the early 1980s, HIV morphed from completely unknown to epidemic in its scope; at one point, an estimated 130,000 new infections occurred each year in the US.
Today, that number has decreased substantially, to about 50,000 new infections per year. (Data from 2000 indicated the annual rate of new infections was 56,300, while CDC surveillance data from 46 reporting states in 2010 put the number at around 47,000.) In addition, the development and use of highly effective antiretroviral therapy has meant that people with HIV can live longer, healthier lives—provided, of course, that they have access to and comply with treatment.
Despite these improvements, however, is it acceptable that 1.2 million people in the US are living with HIV (20% of whom don’t even know it)? “No, that number is certainly not satisfactory,” says Folusho E. Ogunfiditimi, MPH, PA-C, Director of Advanced Practice Providers at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and a member of the American Academy of Physician Assistants Clinical and Health Affairs Commission. “We cannot take our foot off the pedal regarding education, prevention, looking at outcomes, and also looking at the impact of disparities and trying to eliminate those disparities.”
Continue for what HIV is >>