Do You Know Your HIV?
Filmmaker Eric Leven hit New York’s streets to find out how much people know about HIV/AIDS, the plague he previously tackled in this startling PSA.
As for this video, it’s pretty surprising how little people know about the 25-year old retrovirus. Blogger Michael Crawford’s exactly right when he writes, “Eric’s video points out just how much work remains to be done in education Americans about HIV even in the city that has been hardest hit by the disease.”
Although interesting, this PSA is focusing on medical technicalities and not on the aspects that actually influence transmission.
It’s less important to know when HIV becomes AIDS, but it is VERY important to understand how HIV is transmitted.
Doctors may need to know what an HIV test is looking for, but the general public needs to simply know that they should be tested!
For example, I don’t need to fully understand the mechanisms of tetanus to know that I should get a tetanus shot if I step on a rusty nail.
This PSA is basically schlock news.
Does it really matter what HIV and/or AIDS stands for? How many people use ‘immunodeficiency’ in their daily vocabulary or can pronounce it?
Does it matter what is being tested for in HIV/AIDS tests? I think not.
Now ask me questions about prevention, protection, local HIV/AIDS resources, and *things that matter*, we might have a different story.
This is definately *not* front page news, nor is it shocking. It’s more reminicent of a really shitty “Jay Walking” segment on the Tonight Show.