Someone is infected with HIV every ten seconds.  7000 people die from AIDS related diseases every day. Are you bored? Probably. And no doubt thinking “Yes it’s awful, yes it shouldn’t happen, but it doesn’t really affect me so I’m not going to lose sleep over it”.

I can’t blame you really. We are constantly bombarded with stats to cause panic and guilt. London and New York could be under water in 100 years, the average household debt in the UK is £60,000, and there will be 50% more cancer patients by 2020.

When you’re facing the possibility of floating around London, hugely in debt and with a chemotherapy drip attached to your arm, you haven’t got time to worry about AIDS. It’s an African issue anyway.

Wrong. HIV and AIDS is a lot closer to home than people think. In Washington DC, the seat of government in the richest country in the world, HIV infection rates are as high as in the poorest African countries. And come on, it’s not that hard to see why.  I need a third hand to count the number of friends – well-off,  intelligent graduates, some of whom are teachers and, dare I say, ‘role models’ – who have had sex without a condom more than once.

Yes, in Africa, the situation is bad.  Really bad. But that doesn’t mean the onus should lie with this continent. When HIV is part of everyday life, maybe it’s harder to stand up and fight.

We need to take a step back, away from the stats and think from a different angle. It’s not about statistics. It’s about control. Let’s face it – we don’t worry about things that we don’t have power over.  I can’t single-handedly stop the polar ice caps melting but I can look after my sexual health.  This is what young people are good at – we have sex and we have lots of it. So let’s decide to take control of that, and leave the cure for cancer and wind turbine manufacture to the scientists.