According to the World Aids Campaign: More than two million AIDS related deaths were reported globally in 2008; two million children under the age of 15 now live with HIV. New figures released by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS estimate the number of new HIV infections have declined each year by about 17% from 2001 to 2008, but for every five people infected, only two start treatment.
The numbers remain high. Protect yourself and help others. I strongly believe that through comprehensive safer sex classes in the schools, young people will learn how to better protect and care for themselves. We cannot teach abstinence and expect our children to be safe.
We often return to art on December 1st. I look forward to hearing the poet Donald Hall talk and read his poetry at the University of Michigan Museum of Art tonight.
You might be interested in listening to this piece from NPR in 2006: Tory Dent’s Poetry on Life with AIDS. Tory Dent wrote poetry about the experience of living with AIDS, most famously in her collection HIV, Mon Amour. She was 47 when she died after being HIV-positive for 17 years. On the website, you can read sections of from Dent’s the title poem of her recently released collection, Black Milk.
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