Monday, December 3, 2012

Today's Video: Shattering Taboos on AIDS

In the upcoming days several of our posts will focus on HIV/AIDS throughout the Americas in commemoration of World AIDS Day that was observed last Saturday.

Guillermo Chacón, President of the Latino Commission on AIDS, mentioned recently to The Huffington Post that stigmas on HIV/AIDS are one of the main factors that "disproportionately impact" the Latino populace.

"Talking about HIV and safe sex is still very difficult, and we need to promote more education around both of these subjects so that people are aware of how HIV is transmitted and what they can do to have safer sex," said Chacón.  He also observed that "homophobia and transphobia are also major obstacles to address HIV/AIDS" and, thus, he recommends that "we also advocate for LGBT rights and acceptance in all of our families".

One of the efforts aimed at removing the unfortunate stigma on HIV/AIDS among Latinos comes via new webseries that commenced last week.  Sin Vergüenza (translated as Shameless), according to the description provided with the initial episode, aims to "encourages people to get tested as a routine part of their medical care and to seek HIV medical care should they test positive".

The first chapter of this dramatic, telenovela-like webseries can be viewed below:



According to the Centers for Disease Control approximately 18,000 Latinos have died as a result of AIDS while nearly one in five people in the U.S. infected with the disease are of Latino/Hispanic background.

What do you think about the Sin Vergüenza series?  Do you believe it can be effective way to remove stigmas on HIV/AIDS among Latinos?

Video Source - YouTube via user healthsvcs

Online Sources - Centers for Disease Control, The Huffington Post

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