About 1.2 million Americans were infected with HIV in 2008 – a number which grows by 50,000 each year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. As this number increases, University students take steps every year to show their support for those living with the disease and to commemorate those who have died from it.
This year, students will observe HIV/AIDS Awareness Week with a series of events designed to spotlight the unique nature of the disease. The week begins Dec. 1 – World AIDS Day – and extends through Dec. 7, featuring a selection of informative films, a free HIV testing session on Grounds and a candlelight vigil for those affected by the illness.
The University’s commitment to HIV/AIDS education extends beyond HIV/AIDS Awareness Week, however. Every year, Asst. Nursing Prof. Reba Childress teaches “HIV/AIDS: A Personal and Social Perspective,” a course in the Nursing School, to educate students about the ramifications, injustices and experiences of the virus. Childress said the course was originally developed as an elective in the Nursing School to provide students with the opportunity to learn about HIV and AIDS. However, Childress said, “The course is not limited to health care professionals. We have individuals from all schools here to take the course. There are a variety of degrees and people who are interested in learning more about what HIV is and how they protect themselves as well as help others who have to manage HIV and AIDS.”
Fourth-year College student Seana Hedayatnia said he enrolled in the course after researching the disease during the summer. His prior research only focused on the scientific aspects of the disease, and Childress’ course gave him the opportunity to look at the personal side he had yet to study. Hedayatnia said the class learned about the virus and how it causes AIDS, but as the semester progressed, the students stepped away from the biology and explored how the disease affects individuals.
The course features many guest speakers who offer their perspectives on the disease, including a Nursing School graduate working with a group which provides support for children in Africa, social workers and people living with AIDS in the Charlottesville community.
“We see the domestic side, people living with AIDS in Charlottesville, and how one person is helping people across the world and how that experience differs,” Hedayatnia said. “Over there [in Africa], there’s a lot of stigma against people affected by HIV.”
For many students, hearing these first-hand accounts is an eye opening experience.
“One of the most startling things I’ve come to realize is that a great number of people don’t know they have HIV,” Hedayatnia said. “People don’t know it and they continue to spread it, without getting tested.”
Students in the class give their time to help prepare HIV/AIDS awareness events every year and many also choose to volunteer for the Charlottesville’s AIDS Service Group, providing rides for patients to their appointments. Childress said a number of students from past classes remain involved even after completing the course and take what they have learned out into the community.
“This class allows students to become advocates, which is major,” she said. “I think it helps them become more aware and become advocates for those who are dealing with HIV/AIDS and try to help prevent it.”
Childress has been instrumental in creating awareness events for the University community and the commonwealth. She, along with her students, encouraged University officials to declare November as HIV/AIDS Awareness Month at the University. In addition, Gov. Bob McDonnell declared Dec. 1-7 HIV/AIDS Awareness Week for the Commonwealth of Virginia, following a request from President Teresa A. Sullivan on behalf of Childress and her class.
To mark these times at the University, the class has organized an HIV/AIDS awareness vigil, which will be held Dec. 1 at 3:30 p.m. on the north side of the Rotunda.
Hillary Barry, a peer health education coordinator for Student Health, said the most important part of prevention and awareness is getting tested. She noted that the CDC estimates that one out of five people with HIV do not know that they have it.
“[HIV/AIDS] hasn’t gotten a lot of attention lately, even though it continues to be a very pervasive epidemic, especially around the world,” Hedayatnia said. “Regardless of what you might hear on the news, that it’s a manageable disease and people can take drugs for it, it’s really not. People suffer from a lot of side effects, its something people should be concerned about. We’re focused on educating people.”
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