Online Reporting update

So far this course has enlightened me a little about AIDS. Admittedly I haven't been researching as much as I should. I liked reading some people's personal accounts. Since, starting this class I have learned more about the subject of AIDS. I listened to some NPR stories in which people tell what it is like living with HIV/AIDS, and how it is really difficult to live with HIV and the drug treatments can be difficult.
The person I interviewed for my blog story told me the same thing, that people don't realize how difficult the drugs can be. He also felt that not enough was being done to teach people prevention. He said he can't believe that AIDS has been around for so long and people are still being infected even with all the knowledge out there. One fascinating thing I learned from reading up on AIDS is that there is actually a small minority of people who are immune to the virus. The are descendants of people who lived in small isolated communities during the time of the black plague in Europe.
Most of the articles I read say that South Florida has one of the higest rates of infection in the country, which I knew already.
I still don't know enough about how people get treatments if they have no insurance. I don't know how hard or easy it can be to get on government assistance programs. I don't know enough about the latest reasearch being done. I don't know who are the leaders fighting against AIDS in our community. I still don't know anyone who has AIDS. I hope to learn more as the class goes on.
The man I interviewed for my story works for an AIDS research clinic and he wanted to learn more about the disease when his brother became infected with it twenty years ago. He then became involved in educating the public on AIDS. When people have a personal stake it seems they become more active with an issue.
I have come to learn that there are many people who are involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS and that fight involves complex issues such as cultural taboos. In a multi-ethnic community, there should be an unlimited number of options on on how/where to do a story, how do people in the Haitian Community fight against the stiugma of AIDS, a black co-worker told me that most people in the black community don't like to talk about AIDS.
Being in this course has taught me that the issue is much more complex than it would appear, this is not the flu virus, and I've also learned that the issue is not being covered enough by the local media.