Youth and HIV/AIDS

Hey friends,

As young people, it is necessary for us to have the knowledge of HIV/AIDS. HIV is a virus, and AIDS is a group of symptoms of diseases occurring due to a deficient immune system caused by HIV. Here are ways that are highly likely to get us infected with HIV or can cause us to be infected with HIV:

• Having sexual intercourse (both virginal and anal penetration) with a person who has HIV
• Sharing personal items that can pierce through skin, such as a syringe, a tattooing needle, razor etc.
• Having blood transfusion with somebody’s blood who has HIV
• HIV can also pass through the placenta and infect the fetus of a pregnant mother who has HIV

So, you know the major ways of how HIV can be infected now. And you should also know how or in what way it cannot be infected. HIV cannot be infected by engaging in day-to-day social matters with a person who has HIV. HIV cannot be infected through the following ways or social engagements:

• Eating with people who have HIV
• Working with people who have HIV
• Social kissing and hugging
• Plying and swimming with people who have HIV
• Using and sharing a toilet with people who have HIV
• And HIV cannot be infected via insect bites such as mosquitoes and bugs

Hey friends,

Now you know ways of how HIV can be infected and how it cannot be infected, don’t you? We can prevent getting infected with HIV in the following ways:

• Abstain from having sexual intercourse, and for those who are married, abstain from sex outside of marriage(adultery). Stay mutually faithful to one’s lover and married partner
• Use condoms systematically if one cannot abstain from having sexual intercourse
• Avoid sharing personal items that can pierce through skin, such as a syringe, a needle, tattooing needle, tattooing ink and tattooing accessories, a razor etc.
• If one must have a blood transfusion, the blood must be tested and checked in a lab first to ensure that it is clean and healthy. In order to get this kind of clean and healthy blood, blood donors who donate blood should donate blood only after they have a blood test and check and can ensure their blood is clean.

We can not know if one has HIV just by seeing or looking at that person. Only the blood test can confirm whether a person has HIV or not. When one goes for a blood test for HIV, she or he should do so only after receiving counselling. This is called HCT or HIV Counselling and Testing.

• By doing and giving the services mentioned above, we can know early whether a person has HIV or not. By having a blood test to ensure we are clean, not only can it help save lives with our blood when blood is needed for an emergency, and it can also prevent our spouses and infants from being infected.
• After the blood test and even if one finds out that she or he has HIV, they will not have to worry and give up on life as there is a medication called ART/ARV available that can control HIV.
• If a person with HIV consults with a certified doctor/GP and takes the medication as directed regularly, she or he can live a full life span just like a normal person and have a meaningful life.

We all have a duty to help make the next generation HIV Free, and it is extremely important not to discriminate against those who have HIV. So, let me insist you all share the knowledge you’ve got from reading this ASRH booklet to your other friends!