Hoosier community honors AIDS awareness day

Daniel O'Neill has seen first-hand the complacency that IU students have toward AIDS in his four years here. \n"Repeatedly it is couched as a disease that only affects those over in Africa, and sadly, some still deem it to be a gay disease," said the senior and coordinator of World AIDS Week on campus. \nToday is recognized as World AIDS Day around the globe. Campus and city events, including a ceremony tonight at the Sample Gates, an interfaith memorial and a weeklong outreach campaign, will be commemorating the event throughout the day and into the weekend. \nMost students dismiss AIDS as a disease reserved primarily for certain minorities, O'Neill said. "Though many people would never voice such a view, their actions and mentality towards the disease and STDs in general would suggest otherwise."\nAccording to the IU Health Center Web site, college students between the ages of 18 and 24 are at an age when they are most at risk for HIV and other STDs. For many students, college provides a break from restraints and the freedom to experiment with sexual relationships, behaviors and drugs, the site warns.\nO'Neill has taken this warning to heart.\n"I believe AIDS is the crisis of our generation and that we will be judged in the future by how we respond to this growing problem," he said.\nAccording to the United Nations Web site, the number of people living in the world today with HIV/AIDS is 39.4 million -- a number that is more than six times larger than the entire population of Indiana. The number of new people infected with HIV in 2004 is 4.9 million at the last estimate -- and the number is growing every day. \nThe World Health Organization planned World AIDS Day this year to focus on women and girls. The number of women living with HIV/AIDS in 2004 is 17.6 million worldwide.\nIn the United States, about one million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS. O'Neill, for one, is not fully satisfied with the way the government is addressing the problem.\n"Our current government refuses to provide aid commensurate to the size of the crisis, often subtracting it from various promised AIDS and public health funds and reallocating in such a way that reflects a gross distortion of humanity's purpose on earth," O'Neill said.\nOn campus, members of the Student Global AIDS Campaign, Outreach Kenya and Eta Sigma Gamma will meet Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Sample Gates to light luminaries along Indiana Avenue. Additionally, at 6:30 p.m. there will be an AIDS memorial service at Trinity Episcopal Church. \n"It will be a very powerful event," O'Neill said.\nThese groups are also working to raise awareness on campus through tabling efforts providing information and condom distribution.\nIn addition to their efforts, Bloomington Hospital's Positive Link -- a free service for those living with HIV/AIDS -- works to increase and encourage testing in the area. The Community AIDS Action Group also receives funding from the state to distribute to organizations and individuals helping to combat the AIDS crisis in Indiana and throughout the world, O'Neill said.\nThe IU Health Center also provides HIV testing and counseling for students. The HIV antibody testing is available there for a $15 fee.\nUltimately, IU organizations play an integral role in promoting public health initiatives on campus and in the community. \n"IU has been tremendously supportive in the fight against AIDS through its on-going support of HIV/AIDS related student groups and its steadfast stance on supporting research in human sexuality," O'Neill said.\n-- Contact staff writer Hina Alam at halam@indiana.edu.