I recently purchased a children's book for Bryony at Goodwill, by notable children's book author and illustrator John Steptoe. As I was reading the book flap about this young man, I was startled to discover that he was written about in the past tense, indicating that he was deceased. This morning I did a little online research to discover that he indeed had died in 1989, according to Wikipedia "of unknown causes." Another article indicated that he had died "after a long illness." These expressions, meant to throw the reader off, are familiar to me. If you've ever seen the made-for-HBO movie "And The Band Played On" (based on the book of the same name by Randy Shilts) you might remember that during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, phrases like these were used to explain away the deaths of celebrities and the wealthy elite when their families were too ashamed to admit the actual cause of death.
Sure enough, after more searching, I found that author John Steptoe had died of "complications due to AIDS", according to his 1989 obituary in the New York Times. What I don't understand is why, if in 1989 (when HIV and AIDS were still incredibly taboo with all the social stigmas of the day attached) the truth behind his death was made public, in 2010 some outlets still are trying to cover it up? It was very easy for me to find out the true cause behind his death; anyone writing a Wikipedia article on him could have found the NY Times article or any number of other articles to reference for their entry. I wonder if we are still living in an age where some people see HIV and AIDS as ways to stigmatize.
In the early 80s when the public health community first started seeing signs of a new disease that primarily seemed to be affecting the gay community, the government and much of society brushed aside concerns about what would become known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency), or in the gay community "Gay Cancer." It didn't take long for the scientific and public health communities to realize that this was a not a gay disease, but a human disease that could affect anyone. The move to rename GRID to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) was made, and HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) was identified as the viral strain that eventually led to AIDS. Although it took time, the U.S. and the world started to wake up. Young heterosexual people began to die of AIDS, celebrities succumbed, the Gay Men's Health Crisis was established, the AIDS quilt took shape, AIDS prevention programs sprung up worldwide. And, while it took some time, death rates attributed to AIDS started to decline. Much of this had to do with the increase in antiretroviral drugs which prolonged the lifespan considerably (and often indefinitely) of someone living with HIV/AIDS, but the infection rate tapered off over the years, too. And with fewer people becoming infected and dying, the money for prevention programs started to dry up and many observers declared that the AIDS crisis was over. There were studies and anecdotal evidence that many young people were not afraid of becoming infected with HIV because of the abundance of "cocktail" drugs available to keep them alive; safe sex and safe intravenous drug use fell by the wayside.
In recent years, we've seen HIV/AIDS rates spiking in communities that don't have the same social capital as the gay community, or that are so unprepared for high infection rates that there has been a communication breakdown simply due to the sensitivity of the subject matter. In the last ten years or so, HIV/AIDS rates have spiked in the black community, particularly amongst black women. There are stories of married black men going "on the down low", or having secret gay sex with other men, and then passing various STD's (sexually transmitted diseases), including HIV, to their wives. Young black girls in poorer areas are not always exposed to the facts of safe sex and HIV/AIDS prevention, and so many of them enter into sexual relationships in their teen years with boys who have not had protected sex with previous partners. The rates of infection are spiking.
The other group hit by recent increases in HIV infections, believe it or not, are seniors. These are folks who have been in committed, monogamous relationships their entire adult lives. Then, their partner dies and they find themselves back on the dating scene again. In their day, you didn't talk much about things like sex and condoms and disease prevention, mainly because you didn't have to; you had one partner and you stuck with that person (presumably) only. Now, even seniors are more promiscuous than they might have been in their youth and in turn, they are contracting and spreading disease amongst themselves. It's a tough situation; how many grandpas and grandmas really want to talk about their sexual practices and health to anyone, let alone each other or their doctors?
I really don't know why I've gotten off on this incredibly long tangent about AIDS. This commentary really just was meant to point out that even in 2010 we still have lingering stigmas associated with HIV/AIDS, and I'm not sure why. Even more, I wonder how much damage this does to people who might otherwise seek out prevention or treatment advice. When will we get our heads out of the sand? For the John Steptoes and the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of other people who have succumbed to this awful disease, I feel a need to make a plea: Get rid of the stigma, for true, unbiased knowledge is the only way we're going to defeat this disease.
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