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Health
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Survey Finds Lack of Awareness About AIDS
30 November 2007
Survey of people in the seven Western industrialized nations shows high percentage know little or nothing about HIV/AIDS
A new survey of people in the seven Western industrialized nations shows a high percentage know little or nothing about HIV/AIDS.APIMAGE style="DIRECTION: ltr" width=210 align=right>
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| A large AIDS ribbon hangs from the North Portico of the White House in Washington in honor of World AIDS Day | | Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on AIDS awareness campaigns around the world since the discovery of the HIV virus more than 25 years ago. Yet a new survey, sponsored by the Christian humanitarian group World Vision, shows that one-third of the people in the wealthiest, most industrialized societies know little about the global HIV/ AIDS epidemic. And one-quarter of the citizens of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States think the problem is "greatly exaggerated."
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| Richard Stearns, the head of World Vision, says statistics and scientific data about AIDS often overshadow the human side of the pandemic.
"So we might ask why, why after billions of words and images have been written and broadcast, why after billions have been spent on research to develop vaccines and treatments for HIV, why after 15 million children have lost a parent to AIDS, why is it that so many people admit to knowing little or nothing about the problem?" he asked.APIMAGE style="DIRECTION: ltr" width=210 align=left>
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| HIV positive Arun, 3, (l), Gopika, 2, (center), and reportedly HIV positive Subiksha, 4-months-old, lie at the Community Health Education Society (CHES) orphanage in Madras, India (file photo) | Surprisingly, 80 percent of the respondents said their governments should do more to help AIDS orphans and 44 percent said they were willing to pay higher taxes to fund prevention, research and treatment programs.
"We found an amazing statistic that nine out of 10 people surveyed believe that the global community has a moral responsibility to respond to the AIDS crisis," he added."datetime">
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