Bananas wearing condoms? What's going on? Perhaps you've seen bananas around campus this past week.
A group of fellow students, the HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Advisory Council, is working to reduce your risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. They are hoping their "banana" poster campaign will remind students about safer sex practices.
Many students have the "I'll never get it" attitude about HIV/AIDS (maybe you're one of them) and others are just indifferent. Ignoring it is a dangerous decision, and here's why you should care: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 850,000 to 950,000 U.S. residents are living with HIV infection, one-quarter of which are unaware of their infection. There are about 40,000 new infections each year.
A 2002 comprehensive survey of Penn State students found that 52 percent knew "little or a very little" about HIV/AIDS. Only 50 percent regularly use a condom during sexual intercourse.
So here are the facts: the HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), the most severe form of the HIV infection.
Most people who are HIV positive probably contracted the virus during sexual activity with an infected partner or by injecting the virus into their bloodstream with a contaminated needle.
During sexual intercourse, vaginal secretions and semen carry the virus through a break in the skin or through a mucous membrane. Anal intercourse with an infected person without using a condom is extremely high risk because of the chance that the virus will enter the blood stream through tears in the rectal tissue.
Basically, you're at risk if you've had sex with a man or woman who has had previous partners, or if you have shared needles to inject drugs or had sex with someone who has. Correctly using condoms or a latex dam during oral, anal or vaginal intercourse will reduce the risk of those who are sexually active.
The good news is you can get free condoms. As part of the HIV/AIDS Risk Reduction Advisory Council's project, students may pick up coupons to redeem free condoms and HIV tests from the Office of Health and Promotion in 237 Ritenour Building or at the Women's Health Fair sponsored by the Center for Women Students and the Paul Robeson Center in Heritage Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 2.
Coupons will also be available at the world campus premiere of the documentary film, A Closer Walk, at 7 p.m. on March 2 in Eisenhower Auditorium. Directed by Bob Bilheimer and narrated by Glenn Close and Will Smith, A Closer Walk focuses on the critical issue of HIV/AIDS awareness.
It will reveal the realities of living with AIDS while guiding students to become a part of the fight against this deadly disease.
Tickets are free and will be distributed beginning today for students (two tickets per ID), tomorrow for faculty/staff and Thursday for general public. Tickets are available at the Eisenhower Auditorium Box Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Those sure are some smart bananas: Don't Ignore HIV/AIDS. Prevent it.
