Post Thanksgiving Rant...

Don't drink the water?! Are you kidding me Aunt Jean?

I'm always amazed by the range of reactions I get when I tell people that I will be traveling to Tanzania and Vietnam. This is something that I have thought about quite frequently in the last few weeks as I've been preparing to study abroad. When I tell someone about my trip they either usually ask me where Tanzania is (and then often guess an incorrect location) or provide a warning about HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. To be honest, I had to look up where Tanzania is located so I can let that slide. What I can't get past is many of the ideas that I’ve been presented about HIV/AIDS and Africa.

 Let me present a few of the reactions I've had in hopes of illuminating my point:

1. At Thanksgiving after I told my Aunt I was studying abroad in Tanzania she warned me "not to catch AIDS by drinking the water."

2. My grandmother started crying. Not tears of joys I should add.

3. My doctor told me not to "have sex with any natives." She then proceeded to tell me not to (EVER) touch any blood and she gave me the rundown about how HIV/AIDS is transmitted.

These reactions piss me off. I feel uncomfortable, and while I know that often times it is not appropriate to go on a rant (i.e. while my Grandma was crying), I think that now is the time to do this. The rate of HIV in Tanzania ranges vastly by region of the country (just like in the U.S.) The rate of infection ranges from 4 percent in most places to 44 percent. The national average has decreased from 7 percent in 2003 to 5.8 percent in 2007. This is comparable to D.C.'s rate of HIV infection (5 percent of the population is infected), which has the highest rate in the country. Why am I not warned on a daily basis about how to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission when I am at home, but I am warned when I tell people I'm going to Africa? No doctor has ever given me information about HIV/AIDS (or any other type of STD) prevention, yet now I'm flooded with this information. People seem to believe that as long as I'm in the U.S. I'm safe, but that the moment I cross into Africa, I will become instantly infected. This reminds me of the original notion of HIV/AIDS as a gay disease (originally called GRID-- Gay Related Immune Deficiency). While HIV/AIDS was once deemed a "gay disease" it now seems to be thought of as a "third" world disease. To me, this behavior shows how we view health and race in the "first" world versus the "third" world.