It's World AIDS day.
I suspect there are things going on in Jo'burg, but haven't really paid much attention. There are charity events as fund-raisers for orphanages, hospices, clinics. I've seen more red-ribbons today as well.
World AIDS day to me, in the past, has been a day to think about the impact, the lives lost, usually spent attending some kind of speech, or service, or candle-light vigil. But here, every day seems to be a World AIDS day. It's a part of life.
And I don't feel like partaking today. I don't feel a desire to do anything different today to mark this day (though I am going to dinner with a Hopkins Infectious Disease resident, he husband, and also David-my ID doc friend). I feel like every day since I've been here has had stories of HIV/AIDS, and I feel like I've written about these issues (sometimes passionately) and today I don't see the need to do anything special...
But, I have to throw this out there. As I was driving, I heard a broadcast from Zim, where a radio presenter is doing a 24 hour radio-thon to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS in Zim. Which, of course, made me think back to the conversation from this past weekend, as Myr and I tried to get some insight into the HIV/AIDS situation in Zim. Both of us thought the rate if infection was likely on the lower end, not too sure what this is based on.. But I heard on the radio that 1 in 7 are infected, or 15%. Much less than here in South Africa. But there is a set up for disaster. What's going to happen to HIV/AIDS as the medical care system lays in shambles. Is there PMTCT (Prevention of mother to child transmission)? There was mention of HAART (AIDS meds) by a few, but sketchy details on if they were really available anywhere.
Last week I met with the Professor of adult Infectious Disease medicine, which is where I'll start in January. Most of their work is taken up by HIV/AIDS/TB, and less by other infections which are seen on the in-patient wards. Clinics are Wed, Thurs, and Fri. They have approximately 6,000 adults on HAART (double what the pedi clinic has), but estimate they need to get 4,000 more on treatment. There is a backlog of people waiting to get on treatment... The drugs are here.
I doubt there are drugs in Zim. And I need to look into this issue further so I don't report inaccurate info, but for now I think it's pretty safe to say that Mugabe is killing Zimbabweans much like Mbeki killed South Africans.
Thanks for listening.
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