Greetings readers, by now you should have cottoned on that I am a very observant person or as we say in Jamaica ‘mi faas bad’. So it should come as no surprise when I report that I recently ‘overheard’ (another tactful way of faas-ing) the tail end of a conversation between a man and his woman whilst innocently going about my business: Man: “yuh a complain say mi give you STD… yuh lucky… yuh know how much gyal nuh get nutten?”

Immediately I doubled over in laughter, because that is either the bravest, or dumbest individual I have encountered in recent times. I should let on that I did not stick around for the resulting after effects of that statement, which I’m sure was equally funny, but I instead chuckled merrily along my way. It reminded me of a joke in heavy rotation on blackberry messenger about a couple about to engage sexually for the first time and the male asks his female partner to be: You don’t have AIDS do you? To which she replies “No”. Only to have the gentleman give off a sigh of relief and retort “Good…cause I don’t want to catch it again”. Laughing spoil with many LOL, LMAO and DWL responses, when I did my part and forwarded it to my contacts.

It wasn’t until I remembered that World AIDS Day was being celebrated on Wednesday December 1, as it is every year internationally, that the seriousness of these otherwise hilarious situations dawned on me. But stick a pin! Who can recall when AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) first came to public knowledge? I do. I remember panicking; trying to recount all of my past encounters; dreaded to do a blood test; feared contact with persons infected with the HIV, I just generally fell apart!

We were told of this dreaded disease that was going to wipe out all humanity as we know it, this disease with no known cure, at least that’s what it sounded like to me at the time. Conspiracy theories abound about its origin and why it was only now being discovered. Oh Lord. Laugh at me if you want to but, I was not alone. I know for a fact that condom sales saw a clear boost right after the announcement, even the pregnancy rate saw a slight downturn; people were informed and aware and trod with shoes on and with extreme caution.

If mi not mistaken, some of my ‘gallis’ friends became instant ‘one burners’. Ears and eyes seemed to have been opened and more and more persons appeared to be practicing safe sex as opposed to how it was back in the day. The prayers and the caution still exist as far as my fear of this disease is concerned, but thankfully, hope has been restored in that I now know that I can’t contract AIDS by merely being in contact with someone living with the disease and that if managed properly with drug administration and lifestyle changes, carriers of the HIV and AIDS can live healthy, productive lives. I’m hoping that this bit of good news does not become a doubled edged sword that sends us back to the Stone Age. Some people still continue to ‘take a little chance’ every now and then and let’s face it, we all joked about that infamous television commercial showing the lad with the whimsical speech impediment repeating “pinch, leave an inch and roll”. The threat is still real, so unless you are celibate and have never had an injection in your lifetime should you consider yourself as totally protected from this virus. Try to be safe folks and stick to one partner. Cut out the ‘look and jook’ technique. Not because someone looks clean means they are HIV or AIDS-free. I want to continue to see the numbers of infected persons go down until AIDS is no more of a threat than small pox. Have a great weekend. Follow me on Twitter @ElvaJamaica or drop me a line elvachatalot@yahoo.com