Can you imagine a world without AIDS? Chances are if you were born in the 1980s or later, then you have never known such a world. If something does not change soon, we may never live to see an AIDS-free world.

Since it is AIDS Awareness Month, now is the chance to question how much time, money and effort has been put into AIDS research and finding a cure for the disease. Is enough being done to stop the worldwide massacre that AIDS creates?

I would say not, considering that, unlike other fatal diseases (like cancer), we know exactly how people get AIDS, and yet still millions die every year. Let’s use December as the time to say, “Something must be done to stop this global destruction.”

AIDS is an extremely misunderstood disease. There are many different, often extreme, conspiracies surrounding AIDS and a general closed-minded misconception of who gets the disease.

Some people speculate that pharmaceutical companies are not trying hard enough to find a cure because it is more profitable to treat the disease than to cure it.

Some say the disease was invented in the White House as a means to cause genocide of people of color.

Since there is not enough proof to back up such powerful claims, I do not buy them.

What I do believe, however, is that there is a particularly unfair and inaccurate stigma that comes with the word “AIDS.”

People think of AIDS as the “gay disease” or the “black disease” or the “disease of sin.” Such small-mindedness and ignorance is part of the reason that AIDS Awareness Month is so important. Obviously, people of all ages, races, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, etc. can become infected with the disease.

To believe otherwise is ignoring science and reality. So let’s use December as an opportunity to eliminate such small-minded ignorance and learn more about AIDS as a disease and the progress of research and finding a cure.

According to The New York Times, the number of deaths from AIDS “declined for the third year in a row, falling to 1.8 million in 2010 from a peak of 2.2 million.” Additionally, with all of the new drugs available for AIDS patients, the disease “is no longer an automatic death sentence.”

Along with a decreased death rate and increased drug supply, “the number of people being treated has soared to 6.6 million of the 14.2 million people sick enough to need the drugs,” according to The New York Times.

Although this is all good news and it makes me optimistic about the future of AIDS research, there are still 1.8 million people dying from the disease and not even half of those who are diagnosed are able to afford proper treatment.

This is a huge deal. Imagine if not even half of those with cancer had access to treatment. There would be enraged protests and shouts of injustice and mass murder.

Why is there none of this for AIDS? Are people still so ignorant about the disease that they find it an unworthy cause? We should not tolerate indifference and ignorance being shoved onto millions of people’s lives.

To see a world without AIDS, prevention and treatment strategies are needed. Unfortunately, with the economic recession, funding for the cause has slowed.

The New York Times reports that “the global economic downturn led to a collective decline in donor assistance last year – to $7.6 billion in 2010 from $8.7 billion in 2009 – well short of the $24 billion thought needed by 2015.”

Will we ever live to see an AIDS-free world again?

No one can say for sure, but I certainly hope so. With the economic crisis and huge AIDS-related death tolls, it seems unlikely at times, but recent improvements in medicine and research appear to be taking us a step closer to such a world.

But a step closer is still not good enough. As a society, we should not settle for “better,” we should not be satisfied until we live in an AIDS-free world.

AIDS is a weapon of mass destruction and my hope is that people will start getting angry about this world-wide genocide and start demanding justice.