What is AIDS? To Survive, You Must Know — This speech is an example from the “Speech” segment of our “Language and Education” series, designed to raise awareness. Here, a speaker addresses an audience from the stage, presenting clear and accessible information about AIDS. In today’s world, HIV/AIDS is a major public health concern. Without accurate knowledge, fear, misinformation, and social discrimination can increase. This speech aims to provide students and the general public with a clear understanding of what AIDS is, how it spreads, and how it can be prevented. It also highlights the importance of awareness and human compassion. The simplicity of language, logical flow of the talk, and its socially conscious perspective make this speech educational and worth emulating.

Distinguished guests,
Warm greetings and heartfelt respects to you all.

Today’s discussion is a reflection of our civic consciousness. I consider it an honour to have the opportunity to speak on such a timely and important issue. I sincerely thank the organisers for arranging this event.

Distinguished guests, even in this age of extraordinary advancements in knowledge and science, AIDS remains a deadly threat to humanity. The disease was first identified in the United States in 1981. Soon after, it became clear that AIDS had already infiltrated many countries around the world.

It has entered our neighbouring countries, and although not yet widespread, AIDS is beginning to spread within our own nation as well. Nowadays, many are aware of HIV/AIDS — it’s a common topic in newspapers, on television, in shopping centres, and on street corners. Yet, many people still do not fully understand what HIV/AIDS really is. Consequently, they don’t know how to properly protect themselves. Furthermore, numerous misconceptions about HIV/AIDS persist in society. In order to build a creative and effective resistance against this disease, it is vital that we have correct and basic knowledge about it.

We must acquire skills to prevent HIV infection. Friends, our first step must be to clearly understand — what is HIV/AIDS? HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus gradually destroys the body’s immune cells, and at a certain point, the infected person loses the ability to fight off common infections and diseases. As there is no cure, contracting AIDS almost always means certain death. Therefore:
“To survive, you must know.”

What must we know?

We must know — how AIDS spreads, what the symptoms are, and how it can be treated or prevented.

Friends, AIDS is taking millions of precious lives while also hindering the social and economic development of affected nations. Bangladesh is not exempt from this threat. Despite our strong social, cultural, and religious values, which could have helped keep the prevalence low, ignorance and lack of awareness have caused risky behaviours to increase. As a result, this disease is slowly but surely spreading across the country.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the first HIV-positive individuals identified in Bangladesh were all returnees from abroad — mainly migrant workers. That is, the virus was initially imported from overseas. However, it is now spreading locally among the resident population. Due to poor identification systems, limited availability and high cost of HIV testing, lack of public awareness, and insufficient grassroots-level data, it is extremely difficult to accurately determine how many people carry the virus or how widespread the infection is in Bangladesh.

In our society, discussions around sex or AIDS are often considered taboo, which leads people to conceal related problems or information. This tendency itself is a major obstacle to understanding the true extent of the problem. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS, as of the end of 2003, approximately 13,000 adults in Bangladesh were HIV-positive. WHO also estimates that around 1,100 new cases of HIV occur in the country each year — a number that is steadily increasing.

Bangladesh is a poor and educationally underdeveloped country. Due to poverty, many women are forced into sex work, and sex workers are scattered throughout urban and rural areas. In neighbouring countries, the AIDS epidemic has reached alarming levels. People frequently travel to these countries for work or leisure. Many return having contracted the virus from foreign sex workers, often without even realising it. This is because HIV can remain dormant in the body for many years — sometimes up to a decade. Even when the virus is dormant, an HIV-positive person can unknowingly transmit it to others.

Thus, our nation risks heading into a bleak, futureless darkness. Many misguided youths in our country are injecting drugs using shared needles. This reuse of needles among users is a major cause of HIV transmission. Additionally, many vulnerable individuals sell their blood to survive. If any of these blood donors are HIV-positive, and their blood is transfused into another person, transmission becomes inevitable. In our society, young people — especially girls — have a serious lack of sexual education.

As a result, they may easily engage in risky, unprotected sexual behaviour. Many educated and modern young people lack a strong sense of social or moral responsibility. They consider casual relationships to be a sign of modernity. This mindset facilitates the unimpeded spread of HIV.

Friends, let us now look at the symptoms of AIDS — the initial signs of AIDS can be quite ordinary: fatigue, fever, diarrhoea, swollen lymph nodes. These common symptoms can eventually lead to a fatal condition. The immune system of an AIDS patient becomes completely destroyed. Without an immune system, the person eventually succumbs to death.

HIV is found in three bodily fluids — semen, blood, and breast milk. Therefore, the virus spreads through the exchange of these fluids:

a) Through unprotected sexual intercourse with an HIV-positive person (i.e., sex without a condom).
b) Through blood transfusion, if the blood is infected with HIV.
c) Babies can get infected by consuming their mother’s milk if she is HIV-positive.

Now, how can AIDS be prevented?

© Encourage long-term and aspirational prevention through education. Knowledge, moral values, and life skills learned at a young age guide people throughout life.
© Create and distribute adequate educational materials on HIV/AIDS that can be used both in and outside schools. Teachers must be trained to deliver this content, and it should be included in the teacher training curriculum.

Conscious citizens, let us stand together to prevent the spread of AIDS. Let us educate ourselves, educate others, and build a compassionate, informed, and healthy society.

Thank you all.
May we live informed, safe, and humane lives.