What an interesting concept. Of course it's not literally all blood, just a certain amount of sterilised blood from HIV+ people of different back grounds; ie gay/straight. It remains a source of frustration amongst HIV+ people the sheer ignorance and misconceptions in the wider community about the disease. Stigma remains a huge issue to have to deal with.
“Although people with HIV can live a normal life in countries with good medical care, they are still faced with a hard social stigma of exclusion. Most conceal their illness for fear of losing their friends, their job or their partners or even to find a partner. Because still there are still too many people who are afraid to touch a person with HIV, to embrace or kiss.”
To fight against this limited perception, the issue is themed #HIVHEROES and the three people who gave their blood are put at the forefront of the issue. Importantly, they come from diverse backgrounds — a 47-year-old wife and mother who contracted the disease from her husband, a gay 26-year-old man and a 32-year-old straight man.
Their blood is mixed with the ink in a ratio approximate to 1:28, and the magazine is completely safe to handle. HIV is transmitted via direct contact with bodily fluids (this includes your own), and the donated blood was sterilised before printing. It also comes in a vacuum-packed seal, though this isn’t for health and safety reasons; the magazine’s creators instead want their readers to symbolically break the stigma by breaking the seal. Read more
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