Since 1988, December 1st is marked world’s AIDS day to help us remember to show support to the people living with HIV, to commemorate those who have died of the disease, to remind those who are negative to remain negative, and to unite in the fight against the disease. This year the theme was “Shared Responsibility: Strengthening Results for an AIDS-Free Generation.” President Barack Obama has announced a new initiative at the National Institutes of Health in pursuit of a cure for HIV.
Obama says his administration is redirecting $100 million into the project to find a new generation of therapies. He said the United States should be at the forefront of discoveries to eliminate HIV or put it into remission without requiring lifelong therapy.
Obama made the announcement Monday at a White House event marking World AIDS Day, which was Sunday. The president also announced that the U.S. passed the ambitious goal he set last year to support 6 million people around the globe in getting access to anti-retroviral drugs. Obama said the U.S. helped 6.7 million people receive life-saving treatment.
To date, the greatest weapon for fighting HIV is prevention.
In the United States, investments in HIV prevention have paid off. The rate of new HIV infections has slowed from more than 150,000 in the mid-1980s to 55,000-58,500 per year now. Despite the substantial decline, the rate of new infections is still unacceptably high, making prevention as important as ever.
In order to prevent a disease, one must know how the disease is transmitted so that it can be broken effectively.
How HIV is transmitted
To become infected with HIV, infected blood, semen or vaginal secretions must enter your body. You can’t become infected through ordinary contact — hugging, kissing (except for bleeding gums), dancing or shaking hands — with someone who has HIV or AIDS. HIV can’t be transmitted through the air, water or via insect bites.
You can become infected with HIV in several ways, including:
During sexual intercourse. You may become infected if you have vaginal, anal or oral sex with an infected partner whose blood, semen or vaginal secretions enter your body. The virus can enter your body through mouth sores or small tears that sometimes develop in the rectum or vagina during sexual activity.
Blood transfusions. In some cases, the virus may be transmitted through blood transfusions. All hospitals and blood banks now screen the blood supply for HIV antibodies, so this risk is very small.
Sharing needles and sharps. Although this accounts for a very small percentage of HIV spread, HIV can still be transmitted through needles and syringes contaminated with infected blood. Sharing intravenous drug paraphernalia puts you at high risk of HIV and other infectious diseases such as hepatitis.
From mother to child. Infected mothers can infect their babies during pregnancy or delivery, or through breast-feeding. But if women receive treatment for HIV infection during pregnancy (known in Nigeria as PMTCT), the risk to their babies is significantly reduced.
Anybody can get HIV, but you can take steps to protect yourself from HIV infection.
Don’t have sex. Abstinence (not having sex of any kind) is a sure way to avoid HIV infection through sexual contact which makes up more than 90% of cases
Get tested and know your partner’s HIV status. Talk to your partner about HIV testing and get tested before you have sex.
Be faithful to your partner. If you and your partner are both HIV negative and have sex only with each other, you are not at risk of HIV infection through sexual contact.
Use condoms. Use a condom every time you have any type sex. Use condoms correctly always. Discard any broken condom with a new one and never use a condom more than once.
Limit your number of sexual partners. If you have more than one sexual partner, get tested for HIV regularly. Get tested and treated for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and insist that your partners do, too. Having an STI can increase your risk of becoming infected with HIV.
Don’t inject drugs and avoid being under the influence of hard drugs. Never share your equipment with others.
Consider male circumcision. There’s evidence that male circumcision can help reduce a man’s risk of acquiring HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Treatment with HIV medicines (called highly active antiretroviral therapy or HAART for short) helps people with HIV live longer, healthier lives. HAART can’t cure HIV infection but it can reduce the amount of HIV in an HIV-infected person’s body. Having less HIV in the body reduces the risk of HIV transmission.
If you are HIV positive but aren’t already taking HIV medicines, talk to your health care provider about the benefits of HAART for your health and to protect your partner from HIV. If you are taking HIV medicines, remember it’s still important to use condoms.
In some situations HIV medicines are used to reduce the risk of HIV infection.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)
PrEP is an HIV prevention method that involves taking an HIV medicine every day. PrEP is intended for people who don’t have HIV but who are at high risk of sexually transmitted HIV infection. PrEP should always be combined with other prevention methods, including condom use. This is not generally in use for our country, not practical, and very controversial.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
PEP involves taking HIV medicines as soon as possible after exposure to HIV to reduce the risk of HIV infection. For example, a health care worker exposed to HIV in the workplace may require PEP or a victim of rape who is previously negative.
Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)
HIV-infected women take HIV medicines during pregnancy and childbirth to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. To further reduce the risk, their newborn babies also receive HIV medicine for six weeks after birth. In the United States, women with HIV are counseled not to breastfeed their babies to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in breast milk.
There’s no vaccine to prevent HIV infection and no cure for AIDS. But it’s possible to protect yourself and others from infection. That means educating yourself about HIV and avoiding any behavior that allows HIV-infected fluids — blood, semen, vaginal secretions and breast milk — into your body.
Tell your sexual partners if you have HIV. It’s important to tell anyone with whom you’ve had sex that you’re HIV-positive. Your partners need to be tested and to receive medical care if they have the virus. They also need to know their HIV status so that they don’t infect others.
Lets join hands, zip up and stop HIV amd AIDS.