HIV by the Numbers

     65,000: People living with HIV¹

 
IN THE HIV WORLD, we are often surrounded by statistics, and they can be so difficult to comprehend. To bring sense to these numbers, Dr. Basmati, the alter-ego of CATIE’s bilingual educator Melissa Egan, led the creation of the exhibit The Power of One: Visualizing HIV Epidemiology.

In the exhibit, HIV statistics are presented as piles of rice, with each grain representing one person. The exhibit’s power is in its visual punch — try to imagine the size of a real pile of 65,000 grains of rice. (We’ve used measuring cups here to give you a sense.)

The Power of One recently completed a cross-country tour. If you missed it, you can ask your local AIDS agency to request that CATIE bring it to your town.

The exhibit is based on ideas used by UK theatre company Stan’s Café and is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

     16,900: Undiagnosed¹

     19,960: Heterosexual sex^1,2

     33,360: Sex between men^1,2

     6,100: Aboriginal peoples^1,3

     13,210: Injection drug use^1,2

     3,706: Tested positive at immigration screening⁴

4: Babies born with HIV⁵