Researchers have discovered that the origin of HIV in humans may go back even farther than we thought, perhaps as early as 1884. This origin and subsequent rise has been researched by many attempting to grasp where this virus has been and what its journey might imply for our future.  The research dating HIV’s emergence in humans much earlier than we thought has prompted some interesting reactions. Just looking at the comments on the Nature article, the challenges of discussing HIV are evident. Social, cultural and scientific interests collide and ignite. And as seen many times before, HIV hits a nerve because it is linked to taboos, passion and despair.

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24/10/08. Can you read this? You’re lucky. Literacy (reading and writing) and numeracy (working with numbers) are skills that will serve you all your life no matter what you do. But literacy also moves beyond reading and writing. Literacy about health (a.k.a. health literacy) is another area where practiced skills will serve you all your life. Yet almost 60% of Canadians don’t have them.

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The election is over and the Conservatives are in again. What now? Remember this is the government that is going to court with the hope of shutting down Insite, the supervised injection site. This is the government that is believes harm reduction isn’t a health strategy. This is the government that has so riled and hassled scientists that they’ve written a letter decrying the government’s effort to twist and distort scientific evidence for political ideology. Where do we go from here?

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The upcoming Federal election (October 14), shadowed as it is by the upcoming US election, is one that needs our attention. What does this election mean for HIV/AIDS? Over the last two years, 21 million of 84.4 promised funding dollars have not been delivered. There are a lot of things 21 million dollars can do, many people who could benefit, and numerous infections that could be prevented. But it’s gone undelivered to those who could do the work.

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(Phone rings)
“Positive Women’s Network, Janet speaking.”
“Hi. I’m working on paper on women and HIV for my class and am looking for a positive woman to interview….”

This request comes in often. Students want to know about the issues that affect women (there are many), and if HIV is a different for women than it is for men (in some ways, yes).  They want to hear it right from a woman herself- how she became positive, how it feels to have HIV, how her life has changed, whether or not she has children, and other intimate details. Research via a first person story can be incredibly powerful, but women would be asked to bare their souls every week if all students got their personal interview. 

So how to get information out there?

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