Say No to AIDS
HIV
PREVENTION


HIV Basics.

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) damages the body’s ability to fight infection.

AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) occurs in the advanced stages of HIV infection.

Learning the basics about HIV can keep you healthy and prevent transmission.

Get tested for HIV at least once a year or more often if you are at risk. Use condoms correctly every time you have vaginal or anal sex. Limit your number of sex partners. Ensure clean needles and instruments are used for medical procedures and tattoos. If you think you have been exposed to HIV through needle stick injury, sexual contact such as sexual assault, or injury where bodily fluids are exchanged, ask a health care provider about Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). PEP can prevent HIV, but it must be started within 72 hours (3 days) of exposure, and must be taken for 28 days.

WHERE CAN I GET TESTED?

HIV TRANSMISSION

  • Sharing Needles to Inject Drugs;
  • Mother to Baby during pregnancy, birth or breast feeding;
  • Sexual Contact;
  • Unsafe Blood Transfusions.

 

HIV NON TRANSMISSION

  • Air or Water;
  • Insects or Pets;
  • Hugging or Shaking Hands;
  • Saliva, Sweat, Tears or Closed-Mouth Kissing.
  • Sharing Toilets, Food, Drinks or Utensils.

 

 

Keep yourself healthy and protect others if you are living with HIV.

  • Find HIV Care. It can keep you healthy and reduce your chance of transmitting HIV.
  • Take your medicines correctly everyday.
  • Stay in HIV treatment and care.
  • Get tested and treated for other STDs & STIs.
  • Quit smoking and seek help for substance misuse.Tell your sex or drug-using partners that you are living with HIV.
  • Know your partner’s HIV and STI status.
  • Use condoms correctly every time you have sex to avoid reinfection (or super infection).
  • Get support from registered NGO groups, clinics, and individuals you trust.

 

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) belongs to a class of retrovirus. Once infected with HIV it multiplies and attacks the CD4 cells of the individual. Thereby damaging their immune system if not treated with an Antiretroviral regimen. The individual is vulnerable to Opportunistic Infections (OIs), such as Tuberculosis (TB), Forms of Pneumonia, Herpes Simplex Virus, or Lymphoma. A weakened immune system also leads to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), once HIV goes untreated.

HIV is transmitted through condomless sex, blood interaction (occupational and non-occupational), and mother-to-child transmission (prenatal and postnatal).

HIV prevention can be Behavioral or Biomedical.

Behavioral Interventions:
  • Abstinence- This is when an individual does not have sex;
  • Condoms- Using condoms correctly with each sexual encounter reduces an individual risk of contracting HIV;
Biomedical Interventions:
  • Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)- These are medications used to treat persons who are infected with HIV. ART reduces the amount of HIV in the body resulting in a low/suppressed viral load. Adherence to ART can result in the individual becoming undetectable, this means that they would not be able to transmit HIV to others.
  • Behavioral Interventions Biomedical Interventions Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)- Is used to prevent infection after exposure to HIV. Exposures such as non-occupational (sexual assault) or occupational (health care workers in carrying out their duties at work).

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