Wednesday, October 10, 2007

hiv+stephen fry


Watched both parts of Stephen Fry’s excellent documentary on HIV Aids on BBC tv. Completely absorbing; moving; challenging; sensitively produced; lots of myths exposed; brilliantly presented. It reflected on how, in the early 1980s, little was known about Aids or how to treat it and how, in the UK, people were warned of its dangers via the "Don’t Die of Ignorance" campaigns. Twenty years later, infections are rising, particularly amongst three groups: the young; black African communities; and heterosexuals. The number of new infections amongst straight people now outweighs those in the gay world. I’ve read some of the messages on the BBC messageboard. I was particularly struck by this:
“I was diagnosed HIV+ 6 years ago, when I was 16. To date I haven't told anyone in my life other than the relevant medics. As was highlighted in the programme, it's not the fact that I have HIV that makes me wary of disclosing, but the way by which I undoubtedly caught it - I was an IV drug-user, involved in prostitution and did neither of them safely. My mistakes, my consequence”.
Check out the GIJonny link.

2 comments:

Ellen Loudon said...

I found it extremely moving and insightful. thanks for the post to remind me about its inpact. xxx

Anonymous said...

I intended to watch this, but forgot about it. Will have to look on the website and find out more. Thanks dad, xxx