Facts on HIV and AIDS that you Need to Know

• Due to media sensationalism and lack of information, many people believe that Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) only affects the gay population. This myth that keeps coming back has been disproved by health professionals because the truth is, HIV can be contracted by anybody of any age (even babies can get this virus too), ethnicity or sexual orientation from blood-to-blood contact, sharing of needles with an infected person and unsafe sexual activity. Although generally penetrative sex acts carry a risk of transmitting HIV, there is a higher risk of contracting HIV through anal than vaginal sex due to a much weaker lining of the rectum than that of the vagina. Ordinary condoms are also not reliable when used in anal sex because they tend to easily tear apart.
• Having HIV doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to die. Diagnosed HIV patients can now live longer and have a healthy life compared in the past, thanks to the medical breakthroughs.
• It is true that you can get HIV from oral sex. Whether sex is penetrative or receptive, as long as it is unprotected, you can get the virus. HIV can be transmitted from one person to another through exchange of bodily fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk. Thus, make sure you don’t get any vaginal secretions (including menstrual blood) or semen in your mouth because if you do, you make a very strong and perfect candidate of getting HIV.
• The difference between HIV and AIDS is that HIV is a virus, which may lead to AIDS while the latter is a group of diseases that the body cannot fight off. Therefore, they are not the same.
• Unfortunately, a cure or a vaccine for HIV has not been found and discovered yet. HIV medications only control the virus but do not get rid of them.
• To confirm your suspicions if you have been infected, it is very important to have yourself tested immediately. Not only will an early diagnosis help you but you will also be able to prevent the spread to other people. However, you have to wait at least 3 months to have yourself tested for HIV after having unsafe sex. But if you insist to get tested right away, your results may be inaccurate since HIV antibodies may take up to 12 weeks to be developed.
• HIV does not affect fertility therefore; women infected with HIV can have children. A pregnant HIV infected woman can even have a healthy baby but the chances of transferring the disease to your child is normally 15-30% and reduced to 2-3% upon adhering to medical guidelines. So seek medical advice to discuss things with your doctor. You also need to know that HIV can be transmitted to your babies through breastfeeding.
• It is believed that Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), a pathogen circulating in Chimpanzees, is a predecessor of HIV, probably transferred to humans by means of blood contact during the hunting of an infected animal. The first ever recorded HIV death was in Congo in 1959.
• It is a faulty notion that swallowing bleach will kill HIV. This bizarre AIDS myth does not kill the virus but kills you.
• The widespread-forwarded email message stating madmen leaving syringes containing HIV infected blood to pass on a disease to innocent people are nothing but a lousy scare. Movie theater chairs, random injections at night clubs, coin slots on payphones and gas pump handles are all possible means to get the virus. However, none of them qualified as a real threat for there are no recorded instances of people acquiring the virus through any of these methods. But if you are still worried to death about this matter, perhaps the following specifics can help you: first, the HIV virus cannot survive long enough outside its host hence discarded needles are not likely to be a danger and second, there is approximately a one in 200 chance of becoming infected with HIV even if injected with a syringe of fresh HIV infected blood.
• You cannot get AIDS via mosquito bites because the way mosquitoes spread the likes of yellow fever and malaria is not how the HIV is transmitted. Mosquitoes transmit through their saliva and not by injecting blood to their victims.
• Having one sexual partner does not save you from HIV. You’ll never know what your partner has done in the past so it pays to be careful and protect yourself always.

Hopefully this information will help the readers of this article to better understand a disease that has much half-truths.

In the Midst of Agony

AIDS – Acquire Immune Deficiency Syndrome, the epidemic that has caused extreme agony in Africa. As global trends for this disease rise, the continent is facing a more challenging course. The number of people living with HIV has risen from around 8 million in 1990 to 33 million today, and is still growing, 67% of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated that adults living with AIDS are to be around 30.8 million, women accounting to 15.5 million, and around 11.6 million children being orphaned because of AIDS. The statistics may be shocking, but it is important to introduce ourselves to the causes of this condition that defiled the global community.

AIDS is an advanced HIV virus infection wherein the number of immune system cells, CD4 in the blood drops to a certain level as being attacked. As this virus gradually and progressively attacks the immune system cells, the body can become more vulnerable to infections. This virus is not transmitted through food, mosquitoes or even in close contact with an HIV-positive person. Many would think that it’s only cause is unprotected vaginal, oral, anal, and unsafe sex. However, why are children infected? Why are the sexually inactive people still infected? It is caused by the usage of HIV-infected syringes or needles. Mother to baby transmission during pregnancy or childbirth is also possible as HIV virus can be transmitted through drinking breast milk.

As this virus spread like wild fire across the world, shrinking it to a global village, third-world countries are much more affected than first-world countries. Why is this so? This is due to the lack of funds, support, and attention given by the government. It is the governance of the region that is prolonging the agony. As former President Mbeki consistently refused to acknowledge that HIV is the cause of AIDS, having no thorough study in his theories, he argued that HIV is just one factor amongst many that might contribute to deaths resulting from immune deficiency, alongside others such as poverty and poor nutrition. Similarly, Yahya Jammeh, the president of Gambia, claims that he has discovered a cure for AIDS. Having no medical degree, being only a former army colonel, declares that this herbal medication as revealed by his ancestors in his dreams is the panacea for AIDS. It is in this outlook that slows the provision of antiretroviral drugs in Africa. As the only recognized drug to significantly delay the progression of HIV to AIDS, antiretroviral (ARV) drugs allow people living with HIV live relatively normal and healthy lives. Yet because of the lack of support by the political bodies in the region, the distribution of this drug has been inadequate; there has been poor medical education and health awareness; severe deprivation of healthcare infrastructure; and an insufficient number of medical professionals to tender these people requiring treatment. Take note that medical treatment doesn’t only involve taking these antiretroviral drugs but counseling and testing, food management nutrition, protection from stigma and discrimination, treatment of other sexually transmitted infections, and the prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections.

In response to the unresponsive governance in Africa, global organizations such as the United Nations and US President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Global Fund to fight AIDS in numerous countries. Other organizations such as AidsandAfrica, use the internet as a medium to encourage people to be proactive in fighting AIDS. As Africans become aware and vigilant to the distressing condition, local association about are now becoming vigorous such as Children in Distress (CINDI), focused on helping meet the needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS; The Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation, by former President Kenneth Kaunda, which supports independent low-cost HIV testing and counseling Clinic; The Luke Society of Uganda dedicated to help HIV-positive convalescents susceptible to pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, and related infections; and AIDS Orphans Education Trust(AOET) committed in providing formal and vocation education to the underprivileged orphans.

In the midst of agony and devastation, one action can make a difference, one voice can be audible. So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.