HIV doesn't just exist on World AIDS Day!

I do not live with the diagnose myself, but as a huge fan of Queen and Freddie Mercury, HIV is something that's very close to my heart. As most of you know, AIDS complications claimed Freddie's life in 1991, and apart from very few of his friends and family, no one knew about his condition until the day before he died. At the time, HIV was so surrounded by a lot of stigma and fear, in comparison to today, very little was known about the condition, the effective medicines had not yet been discovered- it came in 1996, at least here in Sweden.
At the time of Freddie's illness, HIV was a death sentence for a lot of people who tested positive, some were fortunate to survive until the modern medicines came, some of them are alive to this day and doing well!

Much has changed since those days, effective medicines are available today, more and more people who are HIV+ have access to the medicines, but still to this day, there are people who suffer in silence and keep their status a secret out of fear of how people around them will react. We had a case here not long ago, a famous singer, he kept his status secret for 10 years, not even his band members knew! He had no support, a heavy burden to carry and he'd hide his medicines, not take them on the right times and he'd be more ill than if he had been looking after himself better. A few years ago he came out, he's getting a lot of support from fans and the rest of the society and he's and doing better, taking his medicines properly and taking better care of himself.
I feel sad for him though, and for others in his situation. HIV isn't like the flu, it isn't airborne, you can't get HIV from giving someone a hug or being there for them. You don't get HIV+ from spreading awareness of the condition and educating yourself and people around you!

It is time to end the stigma once and for all! And it's time to raise more awareness! HIV/AIDS has one awareness day, December 1st is World AIDS Day! But yet, it's barely mentioned in media, you don't see TV channels go red for awareness like they do pink in October for breast cancer. You don't see the red ribbon or other awareness items being sold everywhere like you see pink ribbons and items. It's time for a change!

HIV doesn't care who you are, it doesn't care whether you're homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, asexual, man, woman, transgender, transexual, young or old, it doesn't care if you go to church every Sunday or if you are an IV drug addict living on the streets. Sure there are some ways of life that will increase your risk of contracting the virus, such as sharing needles, visiting tattoo parlors that aren't serious about hygiene, have sex with random people without using a condom and so on. But in the end, knowing your status and being aware and educated can get you a long way! Don't share needles, only go to serious tattoo parlors if you want to have a tattoo, use a condom if you have sex with a new partner, if you donate blood, make sure everything used is completely new and not reused, if you receive blood, make sure it's properly tested for any blood transmittable diseases.
Sadly, blood donation and transfusion is a way for the virus to spread, especially in poor areas of the world- it's one of the major causes of the infection in some poor areas of China for example.

HIV isn't a gay disease or an IV drug use disease, it's an issue everyone needs to be aware of and fight against!

HIV doesn't just exist on World AIDS Day! It exists every day! Don't be afraid to reach out to someone you know who is affected, or reach out to someone if you're affected yourself!

Now I shall get off my soapbox and keep listening to the most epic album ever made: Queen, Innuendo!

I am by no means religious, I am in fact an atheist, but this song is epic in many ways! It's from Queen's album Innuendo and was recorded just months before AIDS complications claimed Freddie's life, he was very sick at the time the album was recorded, yet he pulled it off brilliantly!




This is also a very good documentary from 1988 about the global impact of AIDS, it's well worth a watch and it's in English: Cross Over, The Global Impact Of AIDS