a lefty’s log

today, 1 december is designated by unaids as world aids day. today is the day the entire world focuses on the pandemic of aids and how it ravages individuals, families, countries, economies and general human progress.

the global devestation of aids, unlike birdflu or monkey pox or brainsnatchers, is real and has been here for nearly 30 years.

learn more about aids, the efforts to help those with hiv/aids and how you can help yourself by clicking the following links:

educate yourself

— wikipedia entry on hiv/aids pandemic

find general infomation and view a map and find entries on just how many countries are devastated by the disease.

— npr’s 2004 special report on aids.
it’s a year old, but still appropriate. find stories filed between 11 and 13 july 2004 from efforts around the world. from that npr webpage:

Changing Face of AIDS
More than 17,000 policy makers, researchers and activists gather in Bangkok for the 15th annual global AIDS meeting. Headlining: Asia confronts a rapidly growing epidemic, and women and children are increasingly at risk. Explore NPR coverage.

donate without dollars, (you barely have to lift a finger)

— help find a cure
donate unused computer cycles to solving the problem of hiv/aids by joining the “FightAIDS@Home” distributed computing project. only mswindows machines (grrr.) can join the FightAIDS@Home effort. if you have linux, like i do, you can join a larger project, the Human Proteome Folding Project. mswindows users can choose between the two or perform both. in order to use the linux project, you should be fairly familiar with the command line.

— light a virtual candle
although the website belongs to a big pharmaceutical company, and is rife with ads for drugs Drugs DRUGS!, click on the flash map on the top of the page and light a virtual candle. for every candle lit, the company will donate $1 towards aids research. it’s a meager contribution on their part, in my opinion (especially relative to the money big phrma spends on marketing), but it’s something.

for those flush with cash, there are plenty of organisations that will take your funds and put them to good use:

• arc ohio: in their own words,

AIDS Resource Center Ohio is a non-profit service and prevention organization, serving all or part of 35 counties in western and north central Ohio.

click on the “donate now” button on the main page.

• amfar: in their own words,

Introduction and History
amfAR is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of HIV/AIDS research, AIDS prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy. With its freedom and flexibility to respond quickly to emerging opportunities and its determination to invest in cutting-edge science, amfAR plays a unique, catalytic role in accelerating the pace of HIV/AIDS research and achieving real breakthroughs. Funded by voluntary contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations, amfAR has invested over $233 million in support of its mission since 1985 and funded grants to more than 2,000 research teams worldwide.

i found their link on the better business bureau charity homepage, so i’m guessing they’re okay.

thanks for reading. now, don’t just sit there. hiv/aids isn’t. go do something about it.