unit 3 paper intro

Unit 3 Paper Intro
HIV/AIDS has become an extremely widespread epidemic across the globe. No matter the location, throughout the world there are individuals contracting, suffering, or dying from the disease daily. Often, too, AIDS can be quite alienating, as people who are uneducated about the disease become afraid that any sort of contact might pass the disease on to them. With such widespread fear, support groups have become an essential part of coping with HIV/AIDS. One very popular type of group is an online support group, or a blog. There are numerous online communities that connect AIDS victims everywhere, providing them with a means of sharing medical advice and also stories for moral support. Many believe that these blogs are most useful because they connect people who are far separated by distance to enable them to share medical secrets. However, a very instrumental part of these sites is that they connect people who are suffering from the same issues. With these blogs and sites, sick individuals can form friendships with people in the same situation as them. For many, revealing that they had AIDS is a difficult choice. However, in a community existing entirely of peers and in an essentially anonymous setting, the interaction among AIDS victims has become much easier, creating an excellent system of support for the victims.