I don’t know anyone who has HIV/AIDS. However, thinking, talking and writing about this devastating disease is something I do on a regular basis because of my role as the president of the Turks and Caicos AIDS Awareness Foundation (TCAAF).

I joined the TCAAF about six years ago – mainly because I wanted to be part of an effective non-profit organization that was making an important contribution to the community. Even though HIV/AIDs doesn’t affect me personally, I gravitated to the TCAAF because I knew HIV/AIDS is a big issue in the Caribbean – the place I now call home. I knew that if I chose to dedicate my spare time and energy to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS it would have a big impact. Plus, I admire and respect the people who started the TCAAF – the passion they have for the cause, how well they work together as a group and the effective way they managed to engage the community at large.

HIV/AIDS is an epidemic that reaches far beyond the “victim” – it has a broad and devastating effect on all aspects of the community. The requirements for fighting AIDS are not just “treatment” measures but proactive prevention efforts – that, when implemented properly do much more than just “prevent” the disease from spreading. The proactive measures needed to raise awareness and increase education within a society to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS also have another positive effect – they end up strengthening the community overall. For example, in the Caribbean, the threat of HIV/AIDS is heightened – especially among women and adolescents – because of the stigma associated with it as well as behavior patterns. Cultural habits work at opposing edges – on one side people start having sex at a younger age yet talking about protection –up until recently – was rare. Knowledge of the dangers and risks associated with their actions was prevented from spreading freely. Because of efforts by the TCAAF along with the government’s National AIDS Program, more proactive dialog and education has been initiated. And, by proactively reaching out to talk to kids about HIV/AIDS we end up talking to them about a whole lot more – we end up talking not only about sex, but self esteem, responsibility, choices – we talk about consequences of actions, which leads to thinking about the future and opening up a world of opportunity for some kids. Instead of going down the “normal” path and blindly following the route most familiar to them – kids now have new ideas, added knowledge and information and can make better choices – ones that they didn’t even know they had before. Fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS is not only about ending a disease – it’s about starting an ongoing dialog on improving our future. The net result of AIDS awareness efforts like ours are difficult to measure in hard terms because if they are effective they cause “nothing” to happen… but at the same time these efforts are indirectly instigating positive changes on a very important demographic – the youth!

So, today, on World AIDs Day, I encourage everyone to participate in one or all the worthy causes that you feel passionate about. By supporting the TCAAF – you are doing more than just trying to stop the spread of HIV/ AIDS – you’ll be improving our community, giving our young people better options and helping to end a cycle of devastation caused by a totally preventable disease.

When one person contracts AIDS it has a ripple effect in the community: this person will now require medication every day of the rest of their life, which costs money; the physical toll it takes on the person’s health can vary but between health and stigma issues there is a good chance he/she will lose their job and not be able to provide for their family, with no job the family is left with undesirable options, and ultimately at risk in many ways.

This is why the TCAAF matters and why you should support us. We are working to end the spread of this virus and its negative impact.