The Lansing Area AIDS Network, or LAAN, has found an important way to increase awareness about HIV and AIDS.
It is dovetailing its program to promote its free HIV tests with Black History Month.
The simple fact of the matter is that blacks make up 13 percent of the American population but account for roughly 50 percent of HIV infections. HIV and AIDS awareness is an issue of vital importance to the black community, and using Black History Month to give the issue a higher profile is an excellent idea.
By tying the issue into a culturally cohesive movement, such as Black History Month, LAAN can help make people aware that HIV is a large, communal problem that needs to be dealt with by everyone together — rather than by lone individuals. Tackling a problem as extensive as HIV prevention and treatment is hard enough for small groups of people and small organizations. By upping awareness and getting more and more people to take up the fight against HIV and AIDS, the chances for an improvement over the current situation rise exponentially. HIV is a large problem, and methods for education about and prevention of it need to be just as large.
HIV and AIDS awareness, despite extensive media coverage, is still woefully inadequate to the needs of society. With kids becoming sexually aware and experienced at increasingly younger ages, awareness is absolutely vital. Those who think HIV won't affect them or who still erroneously think that it affects only particular groups need to get wise and get tested.
There seems to be a growing feeling in this country that HIV and AIDS are no longer issues — that after the '80s and '90s, the national AIDS crisis simply went away. This mind-set is both dangerous and irresponsible.
But even beyond getting the word out and raising the issue's profile, LAAN is doing something fantastic by sponsoring free HIV testing year-round for the Greater Lansing community. Programs such as free HIV testing are the best way to slow the spread of HIV, and they stand as functional, helpful ways to educate people about a national health crisis.
Occasionally, when organizations take up a cause, they talk big and raise money but rarely do anything tangible to help the situation immediately. The LAAN, on the other hand, is doing something that is both real and helpful. The program's positive effects can be felt immediately.
HIV and AIDS are problems that are not going away anytime soon. And they won't unless people get out, get educated, get tested and do what they can to prevent the spread of HIV. Groups such as the LAAN are doing their best to educate the public. Now all we need to do is pay attention.
