VSU Observes World Aids Day Friday, Nov. 30

VALDOSTA – Approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV, according to statistics reported by the Centers for Disease Control. Worldwide, there were approximately 34 million people living with HIV or AIDS in 2010.

This week Valdosta State University will join the world as it celebrates World AIDS Day.  On Friday, Nov. 30 at 4 p.m. a viewing of a new documentary titled “deepsouth” will held in the Student Union Theater.  The event is hosted by VSU's Office of Health Promotions, Campus Wellness and the South Health District.

The documentary addresses the spread of HIV in the south, particularly since 50 percent of infected Americans live in the south. After the film, a reception with the filmmaker, Lisa Biagiotti, will be held.

“Our hope is to provide our community with the realization that the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS continues to grow,” said Holly Wright, assistant director of health promotions. “I think that our younger generation has become immune to hearing about HIV/AIDS as they have heard about the disease since an early age. We need to continue to educate our society on what it really is, stress how to prevent the spread of the disease and emphasize that those infected are still people and should be treated the same as everyone else.”

This event is open to the VSU campus and the Valdosta-Lowndes community.

World AIDS Day will be observed worldwide on Saturday, Dec. 1. The World AIDS Day campaign continues its five-year theme, “Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths."

Attendees can pre-register online for the event for a chance to win a 16 GB iPod Nano at http://tinyurl.com/WAD12 . For more information, call (229) 245-3896.