Clemon AKA, Delta chapters host AIDS/HIV awareness event

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As the AIDS quilt spread its corners over the globe during World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, advocates pushed another message, right here in the Palmetto State.

South Carolina continues to place on the top ten list for states with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates.

Currently, a total of 7,510 people are living with HIV/AIDS in South Carolina, locking the state in at the number 10 spot. In addition, South Carolina ranks 14th for the number of AIDS cases reported overall, with nearly 35 percent of new cases impacting women.

Deadra Lawson-Smith, peer advocate for the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Council, recently came to Clemson University to speak about her life as she continues to live with the disease.

“I was diagnosed with HIV in 1988,” she said. “To this day, I remember the feeling I had. My knees buckled. I walked out of the office, and I was hopeless. I didn’t see a way out.”

But 21 years later, Lawson-Smith is determined to change that mindset across the board.

“I’m 20 years into this thing,” she said. “The stigma and discrimination is high, but as the older people of the South say, ‘I’m nowhere’s tired.’”

The human immunodeficiency virus, known as HIV, causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) by infecting and damaging part of the body’s defenses against infection.

Linda Brown from the state Department of Health said the numbers remain high in South Carolina for a number of reasons.

“Much of this state is poor and very rural,” Brown said. “Out of the entire U.S. population through 2006, 52 percent of those living with HIV/AIDS resided in the South. Many of these citizens are uneducated and have little or no access to health care.”

But when it comes to keeping the disease confined to its current case numbers, the battle is slowly being won.

Researchers found that the HIV transmission rate has declined dramatically since the early days of the epidemic. In 1980, for example, when the disease was still undetected, the transmission rate was 92 percent, meaning there were 92 transmissions per 100 persons living with HIV at the time. After the identification of AIDS and the implementation of HIV testing, transmission rates began to decline, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Since the peak level of new infections in the mid-80s, just prior to the introduction of HIV testing, the transmission rate has declined by approximately 89 percent. Five transmissions per 100 persons living with HIV in 2006 means more than 95 percent of persons living with HIV did not transmit the infection that year.

“People say to me, ‘Well, I just don’t want to know,’” Lawson-Smith said. “But they do want to know. I’m relatively healthy now, after 20 years, and I credit this to early testing and detection. It’s not just about us, it’s about our families too. Get tested, get tested, get tested.”

At Clemson, students felt it was necessary to welcome one of the many faces of HIV/AIDS to the campus community.

Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta came together to bring this event to campus. World AIDS Day was established in 1988 and provides governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic. The 2009 theme is “Universal Access and Human Rights.”

“This year, we wanted to raise more awareness about it,” Ronnie Roland, sorority treasurer said. “None of the other programs on campus are like this. It’s a really important topic, and people feel like it won’t happen to them. But it’s real, and it can happen and has happened.”

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