AIDS Day forum in N. Dakota spotlights need to increase knowledge of the disease in rural areas

As part of World AIDS Day yesterday, an organization supporting HIV/AIDS survivors in Minnesota and North Dakota addressed the importance of spreading awareness of the disease in rural communities.

While more dispersed populations may make it seem that AIDS isn't a pressing issue in such areas, “If there’s one person in our community living with this disease, then we’re all living with it,” Clinton Lende, the executive director of Minnkota Health Project, said at the organization's World AIDS Day Community Forum.

Kim Winnegge writes for The [Fargo] Forum: "Geneva, who gave only her first name, said the stigma attached with HIV/AIDS can make it difficult to fully identify herself – even though she’s been HIV-positive for 18 years." Geneva, who lives in rural Minnesota, said that stereotypes of people living with HIV/AIDS ignore the reality: "This is a human disease ... People think it’s a gay man’s disease, or a drug user’s disease. I’m neither, and I got it." (Read more)