World AIDS Day

This year, as we sold our shirts displaying that “1 in 500 U.S. college students is HIV Positive,” we got reactions of general disbelief. Some students were quick to theorize that there must be some college somewhere that is full of HIV-positive individuals and rejected that the statistic accurately represents what they view as “college” here at Princeton.

When we talk about HIV in our classes, there is a noticeable disparity between what is taught and what is practical in our everyday lives. We learn about microbicide R&D for vulnerable African women and about syringe exchange programs for inner-city intravenous drug users. Our classes don’t tell us about the American monogamous, straight, white-collar man newly infected with HIV. The media doesn’t talk about teenagers who were born infected in the U.S. anymore. As a result, we tend to think about HIV/AIDS as a disease that affects certain types of people — types that don’t quite match the Princeton student demographic. We instead apply what we learn to Africa, drug addicts or the students who attend a fictitious, statistic-skewing college full of HIV-positive students.

HIV can understandably be considered a disease that affects certain categories of people. Unlike influenza, HIV infections are usually the result of conscious behavioral choices. However, you don’t have to become infected with HIV to become affected by it. When anyone in our day-to-day social networks tests positive, it affects us personally. For example, we become more aware of the social hardships they face, and (though we might not want to admit it) we might start thinking about them differently too.

Even though the HIV prevalence is low in our Orange Bubble, it is important that we are exposed to the issue; we will all graduate into a world where HIV has been a growing socioeconomic burden for 30 years and counting. We are ostensibly all here “in the Nation’s service.” But as the reactions to our T-shirt campaign demonstrated to us, our Princeton experiences do not prepare us to deal with or even comprehend HIV as personal.

It is difficult for many in our situation to think objectively about how we would react if we or someone close to us tested positive. This reality is scary because Princeton students do engage in behaviors that are known to transmit the virus. We need to be given more opportunities to learn about the risk as it applies to us, the resources available surrounding prevention as well as the stigma associated with infection in the U.S. As it stands, we can graduate without ever being formally confronted about issues on sexual health and risk reduction practices. The only existing sexual health outreach targeted at a general audience is Safer Sex Jeopardy, a non-mandatory event for freshmen run by the Sexual Health Advisors. Beyond that, discourse about sexual health and STIs is entirely a self-selected pursuit. Contrast this with alcohol, sexual harassment and the Honor Code, about which each student is required to attend talks and discussions and receives periodic updates.

At the end of the day, we talk about HIV as if it is something that does not affect our lives. It is important to consider our own place in the discussion. How well do we understand when a behavior becomes risky for ourselves? How practical are established intervention programs for the general population, not just for people classified by health authorities as “at risk”?

We need to expand our thinking about HIV-positive individuals beyond the context of resource-poor nations, beyond the context of an intervention case. Debates about sex education, access to testing, coping mechanisms and funding are just as relevant in our communities as they are globally.

As we watch the presidential elections unfold over the next year and listen to each candidate’s stance on global health and foreign aid, consider also their stances on domestic public health and HIV funding. As we think about how unfair it is that HIV-positive individuals in Uganda don’t have access to free lifesaving HIV medication, let’s also think about the thousands of underinsured or uninsured Americans who are on waitlists for such drugs. As we push for increased access to health education and HIV testing services in developing countries, think about whether you have correct and updated information yourself, and ask yourself where the nearest anonymous and confidential HIV testing center is located.

Catalina Hwang is the president of Student Global AIDS Campaign. She can be reached at chwang@princeton.edu. Kaitlin Henderson and Eduardo Contijoch are the vice presidents of the Student Global AIDS Campaign. They can be reached at khenders@princeton.edu and econtijo@princeton.edu respectively.