First in Israel: Medical centers shine red to mark world AIDS day
The largest medical centers in Israel – Sourasky, Sheba, Hadassah-University and Rambam Medical Centers – will illuminate their main buildings in red, marking World AIDS Day
By ALAN ROSENBAUM
The largest medical centers in Israel – Sourasky, Sheba, Hadassah-University and Rambam – will illuminate their main buildings in red, marking World AIDS Day and promoting the global struggle against AIDS, in collaboration with the Organization for Life with HIV and Gilead Sciences, Inc.The World Health Organization (WHO) and other health organizations, including the Health Ministry, have joined “90-90-90,” the international program to eradicate AIDS, according to which 90% of all HIV carriers in the world will be diagnosed; 90% of the carriers will receive drug treatment; and 90% of all carriers will reach undetectable status.The World Health Organization; the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the American National Institutes of Health have determined that there is zero risk of contracting AIDS from a diagnosed and treated undetectable HIV carrier, when the presence of the virus is so low that it cannot be detected in a blood test.Avinof Frumer, chairman of Organization for Life with HIV, notes that “an undetectable AIDS carrier cannot infect anyone with the AIDS virus, can have sex without a condom with a single partner, and can bring healthy children into the world.”This is a medical revolution that has rendered HIV patients non-contagious. Despite the medical successes, many challenges remain for AIDS carriers, especially in dealing with stigmas and society’s attitude toward them.