I was surprised to see that many people still have stereotypes about Africa, but I met a few ladies, who are educated enough to know better, ask me, when they found out I was from Africa, “So, how is the HIV and AIDS situation in Africa now?”

They went further, letting me know that the country where I spent three years of my high school life and two years of college, Botswana, was one of the most infected by the virus. The encounter made me look for more information that would help me see the facts as these women saw them.

Thielen Health Center is one of the centers here in Ames that does confidential HIV testing; Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Fridays from 8 p.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The tests are done by one person and the results take 15 days. The two times I have been there I was the only one testing.

On the other hand, in Botswana, I went to one confidential HIV testing center last summer. They test Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Four people each do two different blood tests. The results are given to you in 15 minutes. The two times I went I found such long lines I had to wait an hour before it was my turn.They also test on a first-come, first-serve basis and are also confidential.

Both centers took the same time, but one had long lines. There are more centers in Gaborone, Botswana, than in Ames. Gabarone has a population of 121,000. Ames has a population of about 50,731. This does not explain why Botswana has a higher ranking for HIV-positive people on average than America, but it makes me wonder if the statistics really take all the variables into account. Statistics are based on the people who are tested. The only other way to come up with the statistics is by counting the number of HIV-positive people from the few who donate blood or by counting how many have died from AIDS.

There are some interesting facts about why people in Africa who died from AIDS are easily identified as dying from AIDS-related illnesses as compared to the ones who die of AIDS-related illnesses here in the United States, but that’s another long story. I hope you will find out more about HIV and AIDS everywhere.

Miranda Mhango

Senior

Accounting