AIDS Week at UNC Features Variety Of Events, Drives

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Today marks the beginning of World AIDS Week, an event designed to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS, as well as provide an opportunity for people to give money and food to those who have contracted the disease.

Events are scheduled all this week in the Pit and other areas on campus by the UNC Center for Healthy Student Behaviors. The events are in connection with World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 signifying the world's 21st year in the fight against AIDS.

Informational games, condoms and educational materials will be available in the Pit today through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. A canned food collection also will be set up during these times, and the items will be donated to the Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina.

On Thursday, free confidential walk-in HIV testing will be available in the Student Recreational Center from noon to 4:30 p.m.

Raj Panjabi, a first-year medical student, is part of the Have a HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) group, one of the campus groups participating in AIDS Week. The group is asking students to contribute to the program with donations and active involvement.

Have a HAART is a part of a larger program named Aid Babies Battling AIDS, which supplies medication to HIV-positive women in South Africa to prevent transmission of AIDS from mother to child during birth. Financial contributions will be accepted this week in the Pit and donated to the fund.

Life-enhancing drugs are available to those who can afford them, but they are extremely expensive and not available in most parts of the world. Panjabi said it is a human rights issue when some people are denied proper medication because of their socioeconomic status.

In a report published last month by the Common Sense Foundation, North Carolina's assistance program for people with HIV had the hardest eligibility requirements and the longest waiting list in the country. The report also stated that both South Carolina and Virginia assisted twice as many people as North Carolina because of the heavy restrictions.

When asked if students know enough information about HIV/AIDS, Panjabi said, "I think there needs to be a sense of coalition-type of building here." He said HIV is looked at as a chronic illness in the United States and not as a fatal disease because people here, such as Earvin "Magic" Johnson, can afford the proper medication.

For a calendar of this week's events call the Center for Healthy Student Behaviors at 966-6586 or look at http://www.shs.unc.edu/ntymi.html.

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.