HIV Prevention, Awareness Still Crucial, Opinion Piece Says
HIV/AIDS may be "way off the radar screen" for most people in the U.S., but HIV prevention and awareness are "as important as ever," columnist Dana Parsons writes in a Los Angeles Times opinion piece. The AIDS Services Foundation in Orange County, Calif., will mark its 20th anniversary on April 1, Parsons writes. He adds that, although the foundation can celebrate the fact that its work no longer is "dominated" by "death and the dying process," HIV/AIDS "hasn't gone away." The foundation had 1,550 clients in 2005, and according to state figures, 3,400 people in Orange County have died of AIDS-related complications, Parsons says. With "fewer high-profile cases acting as frightening beacons," there is an "understandable concern" that people "may become less diligent about prevention." That is a mistake given the day-to-day difficulties of managing the disease, Parsons writes (Parsons, Los Angeles Times, 3/17).
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