JC students learn how to deal with people with HIV/AIDS
UP until yesterday, 14-year-old Brian Moore had no clue that HIV/AIDS could not be transmitted by simply touching someone with the disease.
It was was only after listening to a presentation by Aneisha Taylor, who has been living with the deadly disease since 2003, that his views about people with HIV/AIDS changed.
“I learnt that you can’t catch AIDS by touching or playing with someone who has it,” said Brian, a student of Jamaica College in Kingston.
In fact, to show how much his views had changed, the lad greeted Taylor with a big hug following her presentation.
“I used to be afraid of persons with HIV/AIDS, but now I know that you can’t catch it like that,” he told the Observer.
Brian was among 200 grade nine students who attended the educational talk put on by Cari-Med Limited at the school. The talk, entitled ‘Let compassion stay in fashion’, was aimed at encouraging students to cultivate good attitudes and empathetic responses towards their peers living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
“The talk was very interesting because it helped me to be more aware of HIV/AIDS,” said 14-year-old Jevaughn Whyte.
“I learnt that we cannot catch HIV/AIDS by normal physical contact you can only catch it through irresponsible sex,” he added.
Meanwhile, Taylor, a mother of three, stressed that HIV/AIDS is not a life sentence and that persons living with the disease are human beings like everyone else and should be treated accordingly. She is the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health’s HIV/AIDS campaign.
Yesterday, her presentation drew many questions from the curious youngsters who wanted more information about how the disease is transmitted.
Wayne Phinn, a physics teacher at the school, welcomed the talk. He said it was important to equip young people with adequate information so that they could make wise choices.
“It was very good because I believe it is an issue that is constantly being covered up even though it is a global problem,” he told the Observer.
CariMed’s pharmacy manager, Vivinne Walker, said she hoped the session inspired students to be more compassionate to people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.
“It is important for us to speak to students and we feel the younger age group will get the message and it will stay with them for life,” she said.
“We hope that we get the word out so that students can be more comfortable about talking about the condition,” she added.
