The Fight against AIDS

World AIDS Day was instituted in 1981 as a way to draw attention over what – at the time – was a new disease. Thirty-three years later, life expectancy for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) carriers has drastically increased in developed countries. However, prevention and detection are still the most important defense against it.

It is estimated that some 35 million people in the world live with HIV, a figure similar to the number of deaths due to the illness in the past few decades.

The virus causing acquired immunodeficiency no longer equals a death sentence, as we now have medication combinations that allow people to continue living with it. Research performed simultaneously from China to France and including the U.S. seeks to find a cure for the disease and to develop a vaccine to prevent it.

Meanwhile, the initial recommended precautions remain in effect: safe sex wearing a condom and tests to detect the presence of the virus in order to prevent it from spreading.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC,) the most pressing concern this year in the U.S. was the increased rate of contagion among youths 13 to 24 years old. This group represents 16% of the population and 26% of all new HIV cases.

In the meantime, Latinos continue to be disproportionately represented in groups of people with HIV. While they represent a sixth of the population, they are a fifth of all people infected. The official figures are worrisome: Over half of Latinos diagnosed with HIV do not receive treatment, and barely one third of those with the illness have it under control, says the CDC report.

All this means that there is still much to do to overcome our numerous issues regarding cultural and language-barriers, lack of information and access to medical services. Late detection still leads to many Latinos to death.

The fight against AIDS is an ongoing one. While scientists are in the front lines, everyone is responsible to take care of themselves and get tested. That much hasn’t changed