Tag Archives: Difference

World AIDS Day

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Posted by Joe on December 1, 2009 – 12:37 pm
Filed under Making a Difference

World AIDS Day

Photo by: Daniel Voyager

Today, December 1st, is World AIDS Day. “HIV/AIDS has been a global epidemic for more than 27 years.”1

WHAT IS HIV/AIDS?

HIV is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system – the body’s defense against diseases.2 However, HIV and AIDS are not the same thing. When someone is described as living with HIV, they have the HIV virus in their body. A person is considered to have developed AIDS when the immune system is so weak it can no longer fight off a range of diseases with which it would normally cope.3

STATISTICS

According to WorldAIDSday.org:

  • 33.4 million people living with HIV worldwide
  • 31.3 million adults
  • 15.7 million women
  • 2.1 million children under 15

There is no known cure, but there is treatment for people to keep the disease under control. Many people can live a healthy and active life if they get treatment for it. However, treatment is less effective if the disease is discovered late.

This makes World AIDS Day and important to raise awareness and urge people to get tested and if necessary treated for HIV/AIDS.

WHERE TO GET TESTED

Many locations are offering free HIV/AIDS testing on December 1st. This may vary from location to location so be sure to check with individual testing centers for information regarding testing and cost of the tests.

Planned Parenthood has numerous locations around the country and does offer HIV testing. Visit there website for more information on locations and testing information.

PREVENTION

There are numerous ways that you can protect and prevent yourself from getting HIV/AIDS. The first is getting tested for HIV/AIDS – even if you don’t suspect that you have it, it never hurts to be sure.

WorldAIDSDay.org states the common ways that HIV/AIDS are passed on:

  • Sex without a condom with someone living with HIV
  • Sharing infected needles, syringes or other injecting drug equipment
  • From an HIV-positive mother (to her child) during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding (but with effective treatment and care the risk of transmission can be greatly reduced)

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

Bring Awareness. There is nothing more powerful then spreading the word. By making people more aware of HIV/AIDS you are helping make a difference. This is one area that could be improved for this issue. We need more people spreading information about HIV/AIDS. Spread the word by directing people to this website or by directing them to WorldAIDSday.org.

You can also raise awareness by purchasing a red ribbon to not only help the cause but to help people become more aware. Click here for more details on how you can help this cause.

Volunteer. Get involved by volunteering some of your time to help out the cause. While WorldAIDSDay.org  is directed toward the United Kingdom, you can still get involved by starting an event in your local community, school and business. Click here for more information.

Donate. You can donate money by purchasing ribbons, buttons, posters. You can also give monetary donations as well. Click here for more details on how you can help this cause.

RESOURCES

Here are some other helpful websites! Be sure to visit them!

Lastly, I would like to leave you with a video posted by WorldAIDSDay.org:

Please help support this cause by directing your friends and family to my website or the WorldAIDSDay.org website. Feel free to leave any comments!

  1. http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/world-aids-day [↩]
  2. http://www.worldaidsday.org/factsandstats/the-basics.aspx [↩]
  3. http://www.worldaidsday.org/factsandstats/the-basics.aspx [↩]

Fight For Preemies!

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Posted by Joe on November 17, 2009 – 12:24 pm
Filed under Making a Difference, Promotion

Did you know that “One in eight babies born in our country is premature. The rate of premature birth in America is higher than that of most other developed nations?”1 Today I would like to bring awareness and dedicate this post to preemies and their friends and families. November 17th is bloggers unite to try to bring awareness on this cause. However, we shouldn’t limit it to today – we should fight everyday. We can make a difference and I hope you share this information with people.

Many premature babies will face lifelong challenges. Babies who survive a preterm birth risk serious lifelong health problems including cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing loss, learning disabilities, and other chronic conditions.2 Some babies don’t survive the first month. About one million deaths in the first month of life (28 percent of total newborn deaths) are attributed to preterm birth.3

Here is a video clip from the March of Dimes.

You can learn more about Premature babies at the March of Dimes.

How you can help?

Advocacy: Contact your local government representatives and tell them your story about a premature baby. Also help the March of Dimes.

Bring Awarness: Contact your local paper, news agency and blogs to publish information about premature babies. If you need help with writing or contacting news agencies, feel free to contact me.

Volunteer: You can make a difference by spending a little bit of your time helping others. Check out local March of Dime chapters.

Donate: You can donate to this cause by purchasing wristbands, magnets, crystal bracelets or honoring a baby.

You can make a difference!

If you have a personal story and would like to share it on the blog, feel free to post a comment. Please, please, please share either this post with your family and friends or please pass on the March of Dimes website to help fight for these babies. “We need to fight ― because babies shouldn’t have to.”

  1. http://marchofdimes.com/prematurity/index_map.asp [↩]
  2. http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/21295_10699.asp [↩]
  3. http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/21295_10699.asp [↩]

Help me Make a Difference!

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Posted by Joe on November 12, 2009 – 1:20 pm
Filed under Joe's Life, Making a Difference

I just recently joined a website called Bloggers Unite which allows bloggers to promote a cause on their blogs. The way it works is on the day of the “cause” members of Bloggers Unite will blog about the specific cause to raise awareness on the cause. Each time a new cause comes up on the website I will update the banner on the right to reflect the new cause.  I don’t want any of the causes to become lost as a new cause comes up so  I will create an archived page for past causes so you can access the cause in the future.

I want to do this to help make a difference and raise awareness. Sometimes we get caught up in things in our own lives and we don’t realize what is happening around us. I’m guilty of this – most of the time it’s worrying about college, jobs, personal life issues that sometimes we lose sense of other things that are going on around us.  In certain circumstances, we don’t realize how bad the situation really is.

Being a journalist, I have the ability to communicate with a large group of people. By blogging about these various causes, I hope to reach many people and raise awareness of these issues. Web designers know to put the most important stuff “above the fold” – just like in newspapers. If you don’t read anything else on my site – I want you to read the “Make a Difference” portion of the sidebar.

If you don’t donate to the cause – which I hope all of you do then please, please, please pass either the posts I write on the issues or direct them to the organizations website. All you have to do is copy and paste a link into an email, AIM message, Facebook/Twitter status. That simple action could help someone!