How can people in civilized countries still get AIDS?

An AIDS conference is taking place in Washington DC today. There are several articles about it. One of those, which I share below, says that of the 1.2 million people in the US with AIDS, half of them black.

Now, I think AIDS has been going on for at least 30 years - since Reagan's time, and at that time, it was considered "just" a disease that struck homosexuals. But surely for the last 20 years people have known what caused AIDS - having unprotected sex and sharing needles.

And yet they still do it.

Unprotected sex gives you STDs, unwanted pregnancies, and worst of all, a disease that can kill you, namley AIDS. Why in the world would anyone in this day and age have unprotected sex, or allow someone to have sex with them unprotected.

Then there' sthe sharing needles. People have known for 20+ years that if yo share a dirty needle you get AIDS. So why on earth do they still do it? I mean, we actually have government programs where they provide addicts with clean needles! So why in the world...

The only explanation I can think of is that people are just stupid.

From Edge on the Net: UN AIDS Chief: Impact on Black Americans Shocking

WASHINGTON (AP) - AIDS may hit developing countries the hardest, but the International AIDS Conference is shining a spotlight on a stubborn epidemic in the U.S., too.


United Nations AIDS chief Michel Sidibe calls the impact on black Americans shocking. Of the nearly 1.2 million Americans with HIV, nearly half are black men and women. And black gay and bisexual men are at highest risk.

Access to treatment is only one hurdle. Sticking with medication daily for life is another.
U.S. Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the government is trying novel partnerships with community groups and others to help.

First up is a pilot program with the MAC AIDS Foundation that will send text-message reminders about medication to young people living in the South.

So people who have AIDS - well, young people who have AIDS - are so stupid that they don't know enough to take their medication every day? They need the government to send them a text message every day to tell them to take their medication?

Now that is scary.