World AIDS day
Paige Prince
Issue date: 12/2/09 Section: News
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The theme for this year's World AIDS Day is "Universal Access and Human Rights". According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) AIDS has killed more than 25 million people to date since 1981 and counting.
Dr. William Price Curtis, director of the counseling center, coordinated the event to help stimulate an understanding of HIV/AIDS on campus.
"I see World AIDS Day as an opportunity for those who are not aware of the tremendous HIV epidemic, that is still looming over our human kind, to become aware," Price-Curtis said.
During his presentation Price-Curtis made four critical points about the bodily fluids that transfer HIV, HIV testing, condoms, and how once the disease is contracted there is, "no way around it".
According to Price-Curtis, HIV/AIDS is transmitted from person to person through the following bodily fluids; blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. Price-Curtis stated these were the only way that the virus could be passed on. The most common way to get infected by these secretions is unprotected sex with someone who has HIV/AIDS.
He urged the importance of getting tested for sexually active people. According to Price-Curtis, testing is offered through the University's Health Clinic and Oklahoma City's Guiding Right program, and takes place at the beginning of every month on campus.
Condoms play a critical role in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. However, only two types of condoms can protect against it; polyurethane condoms and latex condoms.
In Price Curtis' final points, he explained that you have to practice safe sex and get tested regularly to ensure your health.
Rickey Freeman, a spring 2009 initiate of the Beta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., said their goal was to ensure that more people get tested.
"My hope is that the people in attendance don't let good information fall on deaf ears and that they actually heed to the information that was given," Freeman said.
According to Price Curtis, the University's Health Clinic has had only one person tested as positive with AIDS out of the hundreds tested on campus. This was shocking news to Joslynn Price, a senior finance major from Midwest City, Okla., who attended the luncheon.
"The fact that you hear so many rumors about Langston University having a large number of people with AIDS isn't true," Price said. "That was very surprising to me."
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