Status updates for Facebook are common among UCLA students; HIV/AIDS updates are not.
The theme for this year’s World AIDS Day, occurring today, is “Have you Updated Your Status?” playing off of the popular networking site.
Students are encouraged to get tested and have open communication with their partners, said Kaitlynn Yandell, a second-year international development studies student and an AIDS Ambassador.
World AIDS Day is put on by the Student Welfare Commission and AIDS Awareness Committee on campus.
“It’s just a way for people to get talking about AIDS in a fun type of environment,” said Anjum Bokhari, co-director for the AIDS Awareness Committee and a fourth-year biology student.
Processions from the Court of Sciences, De Neve Plaza and Dickson Court will converge at Bruin Plaza to start out the day’s events.
The World AIDS Day rally will ensue in the plaza with speakers, entertainment and games.
“A lot of times, people now don’t take into account HIV being a real threat, because with medication, it’s not quite as fatal as it was when it came out,” Yandell said.
Throughout the course of the day, free testing vans will be available to students at the Court of Sciences.
The test is fast, and the response time is quick, said James Aboagye, co-director of the AIDS Awareness Committee.
In past years, testing vans have run out of supplies, which Bokhari sees as a good thing.
A number of campus groups will come together to table in Bruin Plaza, giving away free condoms and T-shirts. By taking over the plaza, they hope students will take notice.
“If people were more knowledgeable about how to keep themselves safe, they wouldn’t be passing on the virus,” said Aboagye, a fifth-year anthropology student.
Students need to make safe choices, use condoms, practice open communication with their partners and get tested if they are sexually active, Yandell said.
The festivities will continue into the night in Covel Commons.
A number of groups, including FACEAIDS, the UCLA Blood and Platelet Center and the UCLA School of Public Health, will join together to educate students on issues, such as negotiating the use of condoms with a partner, AIDS on an international level and an overview of HIV.
The event is more accessible to students living on the Hill, Aboagye said.
“Even though less people are dying, more people are getting (infected),” he said. “I think it is important because you never know when HIV/AIDS affects someone that is close to you.”