zenn bites...

i think i will be going ward visiting with action for aids tomorrow.

it's kinda daunting, seeing that i know so little about AIDS. AIDS is quite a taboo in our society, and i do fear that increased exposure to AIDS patients will give me AIDS.

as i told feng: i think the first thought i'll entertain is that of killing myself, if i ever find out that i have AIDS.

it just seems to be such a "terminating" infection - no cure, virus that slowly eats up your defenseless body, plus the social stigma and the discrimination etc...

i visited their website though, and googled for more information on AIDS...and i don't think it is THAT easily transmitted.

"casual social contact with persons infected with HIV or AIDS does not place others at risk. it has also been conclusively shown that HIV cannot be spread by things like sneezing, shaking hands, hugging etc."

so how is HIV spread? there're three ways:
1. semen, vaginal fluids, or blood during unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected person
2. sharing needles and syringes for intravenous drug use with an infected person
3. from infected mother to baby during pregnancy, child birth, or breastfeeding

i felt so sad reading the last one...

armed with this knowledge, i'm going to give it a shot, and visit the AIDS patients...learn more about the infection, and about the people it has infected.

my friend, who told me about these ward visits, spoke of how people infected by the virus can, with medication, keep it under control and lead normal lives - possibly even hiding their illness from everyone.

those who suffer are the poor, blue-collared majority of AIDS patients who don't have the money to foot the $1500-a-month medical bills, and who are not allowed to use their CPF to pay for medication.

it is a vicious cycle: they are infected, they need medication, but they can't pay for it, as they can't work, coz they don't have medication, so they get worse, and in the end, they are just lying there, waiting to die.

it is just so wrong, that these people can't lead fulfilling, normal lives just because they don't have the money to keep their infection under control, and under wraps.

yes, i know that life is unfair in many ways, and this is but just one of them...some people may think, oh serve them right for being promiscuous and stupid. well, it isn't just the whores and the gays who get infected.

there are the too-trusting girlfriends who had lying, cheating bastards for partners; there are the poor kids who got it just coz of a moment's folly; there are the uneducated who didn't know how to protect themselves... and etc etc etc.

i'm sure all of them didn't plan/want to get infected.

there has been big, aid-related hoohaa in the media recently, what with action for aids trying to raise awareness, and Balaji Sadasivan saying that an epidemiologist had suggested to him that the increase in HIV infections might be linked to the nation parties that are held every august at sentosa and that attract mostly gays.

it is appalling that our senior minister of state for health can make such an irresponsible sweeping statement. no amount of saying that "more research is needed" and that "it was just a hypothesis" will redeem him.

while a high percentage of HIV patients are gays, it does not give him the right to condemn "gay" parties and the gay society in such a way.

gays have already suffered enough because of the way many in society see their sexual preferences as deviating from the norm. while i don't deny to laughing at the extra-effeminate gays, and the way some of them are so over-the-top, i think they are still human beings who deserve respect and the right to lead their lives the way they want to.

hopefully this trip to the wards will open my eyes abit, to see the world of AIDS through (i hope) untainted glasses. and hopefully, i can do my part in raising awareness for the victims of not just the virus, but the social oppression.

i shall attempt to brush aside my self-centredness, to make living a little more enjoyable for those whose lives are more troubled than mine, and through that, make my life a little more meaningful.