Rx for AIDS: Education

NOTHING can impress on us the importance of solidarity and education more than Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). On December 1, the internationalism of the fight against AIDS will be celebrated with the recognition of World AIDS Day.

Solidarity is at once a personal and a universal matter, for it raises the fundamental question of what is the "self" and what is the "other." One of the glories of our era is that we have witnessed the birth of global solidarity; imperfect, struggling, but nonetheless real. We see it in the creation of the United Nations, in the concern about nuclear war, in the growing worldwide resolve to protect the environment and in the struggle against AIDS.

Are we now mature enough and wise enough to accept that the deepest meaning of solidarity requires that we consider ourselves as if we all were infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), that we are all living with AIDS?

AS public fear over the spread of AIDS increases, solidarity and education need to become priorities. We need to arm ourselves and our communities with knowledge, understanding, compassion and sense. The most powerful weapon against the spread of AIDS is education by every available means.

In 1987, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop bravely distriubuted to the public his Surgeon General's Report on AIDS, the first committment on the part of the U.S. government to educate its citizens about the disease.

Koop warned, "It is estimated that in 1991, 54,000 will die from AIDS. At this moment, many of them are not infected with the virus. With proper information and education, as many as 12,000 to 14,000 could be saved in 1991 from death from AIDS."

AIDS educators believe that for the deadly condition to be controlled, children, as well as adults, must be told in no uncertain terms how to avoid the disease. Because AIDS is transmitted primarily through sexual activity, there is no way to properly discuss the disease without reference to specific sexual acts.

THERERIN lies the root of a growing controversy: Should taxpayers and their elected officials tolerate, and even fund, materials developed to halt the spread of AIDS that contain explicit sexual language and references to sexual practices that are frowned upon or feared by large portions of the population?

Open and honest forums on AIDS can not only head off the spread of AIDS, but can significantly reduce other problems associated with sexuality. Statistics have shown that education has produced not only a decline in the rate of new infections of AIDS, but a decrease of as much as 95 percent among gay populations of other sexually-transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis.

These benefits could also apply to teenage pregnancy, violence and rape. Education encourages a strong sense of self and moral character.

IN the 14th century, when the bubonic plague ravaged Europe, Italian physicians wore an elaborate garb to protect themselves from infection. The outfit extended from head to foot and was made entirely of leather. A wide-brimmed hat kept the physician from the patient, and the doctors never touched the patients by hand. The suit also included a protruding beak stuffed with herbs to "purify" the air and separate the physician and the patient.

The protective garb worked. Physicians who wore the garb did not get the plague, whereas monks who tended the sick without benefit of the armor did. This was because the plague was transmitted by fleas.

AIDS, by contrast, is transmitted by intimate sexual contact, exchange of genital secretions and transfusion of contaminated blood. It is not transmitted by mosquitoes or other insects, animals, tears, or saliva, glasss, food or even toilet seats.

Donning barriers, whether on our bodies or our psyches, is not necessary and serves only to increase the alienation between people infected with AIDS and the rest of the community.

An informed community can put to rest the issues of fear, doubt and anger surrounding AIDS and awaken a strong and enlightened community. In the Harvard Community, the Harvard AIDS Institute performs the role of information bearer. Students, faculty and staff from all parts of the University can call for classes, forums and information about AIDS.

Education, after all, is what we're here for.

Victor R.C. Hernandez is a student at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. He has worked with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation to develop the AIDS education curricula for public high schools in Santa Cruz County, California.