Students_World_AIDS

AIDS Awareness Fair Draws
Little Interest from Students

By: Rie Nakanishi

December 2, 2008, Spartan Daily - SJSU students and AIDS-related community organizations from the Bay Area gathered in the Student Union for the World AIDS Day Fair on Monday, but not many people attended the event.

"I was little disappointed with the turnout," said Stephanie Bowens, the event organizer and peer health educator in sexual and gender health. "A lot of students came to the Student Union as always, but didn't really take the time to grab some of the information."

The event was part of World AIDS Day, a day dedicated to bringing attention and raising awareness of the "global AIDS epidemic," according to the world AIDS campaign Web site.

The health science department organized the event in an effort to educate students with the disease.

"December the first is the World AIDS Day, so to honor the holiday, we decided to come up with a three-day event," Bowens said.

At the main level of the Student Union, students and organizations displayed information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and safer sexual health.

The Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center, the Health Trust, Silicon Valley AIDS Coalition and SJSU's Nutrition Education Action Team were some of the participating presenters at the fair.

Jeanette Yap, a junior health science major and one of the few visitors at the fair, said, "Being a health science major, you want to know as much as you can about it."

But she also said AIDS is still a taboo topic for many people.

"Not a lot of people are open to talking about it," she said. "So this is a good way to have (people) just kind of anonymously grab information, and if they want to know more about it, they can. They don't need to be picked out."

James Smith from the Health Trust said it is important to educate oneself with accurate information about AIDS, since some people still have misconceptions about the disease. The Health Trust is a Silicon Valley-based organization, which provides resources and support for HIV and AIDS patients, such as getting them connected to doctors and clinics.

Being HIV positive himself, Smith said it is very important for people to be more aware of what's available to them and to get involved by taking action.

"For myself, I'm someone living with HIV," he said. "If I can help other individuals to get connected with services or just to support them, knowing that you are not alone in this fight."

He said his main goal for coming to SJSU and educating students was to reach out to people and get them tested for AIDS, regardless of one's sexual preference.

"It doesn't matter who you are with," Smith said. "It's not a gay disease - it affects everyone."

The other booth featured information on food safety and proper cooking techniques for HIV/AIDS
patients to avoid infection from foodborne pathogens.

Dominic Fass, a senior sociology major, didn't know that Dec. 1 was the World AIDS Day until he came to the fair.

"I had some space in my schedule, so I decided to come by and check it out," he said. "I'm pretty glad I did."

He said he found most of the information very interesting.

Visiting the education booth for hepatitis, which Bowens said is a common disease resulting as a side effect of AIDS, Fass said he learned a lot about the differences among hepatitis A, B and C.

"(The) hepatitis table was actually very informative," he said. "I didn't really know a whole lot about
(it)."

The science department is hosting a World AIDS Day Panel today from noon to 2 p.m. in the Umunhum Room in the Student Union.

Panelists from various HIV community groups will be speaking about their experiences in the HIV field and community.

The department will have a HIV/AIDS film series in the Mosaic Cross Cultural Center in the Student
Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday. They will show the movies "Bloodlines" and "Honor Thy
Children."

"I really want to encourage people to come out to the event throughout the week," Bowens said. "There is really good information on how you can be more active, how it really affects you because you should really get to know some of the statistics - (HIV) is rising in the young adult community."