Psychology junior Courtney Williams leads James Madison College and English education freshman Myra Crawton down the runway Saturday night during the World AIDS Day Red Alert Fashion Show at Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road. The fashion show was organized to raise money and awareness for World AIDS Day.
For Domonique Baul, the numbers don’t illustrate the problem.
People aren’t likely to grasp the devastating toll AIDS takes on society unless they move beyond statistics and feel the emotional toll AIDS takes on individuals carrying the disease and families who have lost loved ones, the telecommunication junior said.
Baul attempted to convey that emotion through a poem she read at the World AIDS Day Red Alert Fashion Show at Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road, on Saturday night. Proceeds from the event were donated to the Lansing Area AIDS Network.
“We have to start taking this seriously, not because of the statistics we hear but because who those statistics are,” Baul said. “The person that has the disease can be someone’s mother, aunt or brother.”
From the fashion show to a candlelight vigil at MSU, students worked to raise awareness for World AIDS Day.
According to an MSU health survey, 0.1 percent of students reported having HIV, while 28.5 percent of students reported being tested for the disease at least once.
Erin Williston, the sexual health educator at Olin Health Center, said the number of students being tested for HIV is troubling.
“The problem with that is 72 percent of students at MSU are sexually active,” Williston said. “We have seen an increase in testing and we’re very happy about that and we’d like to see it keep going up.”
In 2003, almost 1.19 million people in the U.S. were infected with HIV, according to the U.S. Centers For Disease Control, or CDC. The CDC estimates that 40,000 people in the U.S. annually become infected with HIV.
Patrick Lombardi said the statistics aren’t abstract.
For 23 years, Lombardi, development director of the Lansing Area AIDS Network, has worked to provide aide and friendship to Lansing area HIV patients.
The Lansing Area AIDS Network provides services for 300 people throughout 11 counties, Lombardi said.
“You can’t help but be moved when you see someone struggling for life,” Lombardi said while speaking at a candlelight vigil Thursday at the rock on Farm Lane.
According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, 17,000 people in Michigan are living with HIV.
AIDS and HIV prevention are particularly relevant issues for college students, Lombardi told the crowd. Fifty percent of HIV infections occur in people 25 and younger.
“You need to know the risks and how to protect yourself from infections,” Lombardi said.
“We’re here tonight to remember. If we don’t remember, we’re destined to repeat.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
