I love all of the energy that surrounds World AIDS Day. The international community seems to overflow with education and empowerment. Individuals come together in solidarity and shed light on this terrible disease. I wish things were like this year round! Then perhaps we wouldn’t have such a profound problem on our hands.

But despite all of the enthusiasm and togetherness, there is one thing that bothers me about World AIDS Day and about the discussion of HIV/AIDS in general and that is the topic of “HIV/AIDS in Africa.” This wording always leaves me slightly uncomfortable. While HIV/AIDS is obviously a large and predominant issue in all African countries, I think that the language itself is dangerous. Not only does it stigmatize African countries, the constant usage of “HIV/AIDS in Africa” seems to imply that HIV is all that the entire continent has to offer. It also trivializes the very real issues of HIV/AIDS in other “developing” (and “developed”) countries on different continents.

As a sex educator, I can’t tell you how many individuals I’ve come across that see HIV/AIDS as a solely “African” issue or a solely homosexual issue. This is frightening, it makes young men and women the world over think, “this isn’t something that can touch ME. This isn’t something that I have to worry about.” NOT so.

Now I don’t mean to belittle the VERY real struggle that many African countries face but rather to illuminate that the face of HIV/AIDS should be more well-rounded, including people from all countries, all continents, all walks of life. Maybe if we understand HIV as a unifying issue challenging every human being, we can capitalize on its potential to unite us, to bring us together in solidarity against a common enemy, to fight HIV as citizens of the world.

This post is by our resident blogger Carina Kolodny

Carina Kolodny is a writer and expert coffee shop loiterer based out of NYC. When not writing (or loitering) she can usually be found traveling the world or jumping out of airplanes. She became interested in HIV education while working with the Red Cross in Fiji. This was an enriching though terrifying experience as she hates snakes almost as much as she hates grammar. She counts Fiji, Cuba and Tanzania as second homes and strongly believes in the power of self love and red lipstick.