December 2017

Today is World AIDS Day. To raise awareness of HIV and AIDS here some facts: Over 36 million people have HIV across the world. This number is increasing year on year, partly because people with HIV are living longer due to better treatment. There are around 103,000 people with HIV in the UK. Groups of people most at risk of getting HIV include: those who have regular sex without a condoms, those men that have sex with men, those who are of a black African ethnicity, those whom sex work and those who inject drugs. Although there is no cure for HIV, treatment is better than it has ever been. Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is very effective at preventing HIV from replicating and can lead to someone with HIV having an undetectable HIV load. But treatment does come with side effects including: depression, anxiety, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, tiredness, exhaustion and rashes.

• As well as the physical effects of HIV and its treatment, there are many social impacts to. Stigma is still experienced by too many people whom are HIV positive today. People whom are positive report experiencing stigma at their places of work, shamefully in the NHS, by family and friends, on social media and sometimes from the mainstream media.
• The best way to prevent the spread of HIV is to always use a condom when having sex; know your HIV status (by regular testing in sexual health clinics) and the status of your sexual partner(s); if you inject drugs don’t share needles or other injecting equipment.
• If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV, to take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment if available.

Here are some videos were people share their experiences of being HIV positive, they are well worth a watch and each is only about a minute long:

Sources & Resources
NAT – Teachers Resources.
NAT – Teachers Resources – HIV Facts.
NAT – HIV IN THE UK STATISTICS – 2015.
NHS Choices – HIV and AIDS.
NHS Choices – HIV and AIDS, 7. Prevention.
Terrence Higgins Trust – HIV treatment.
WORLD AIDS DAY.
World Health Organisation – HIV/AIDS – Post-exposure prophylaxis.

Take care and write soon,

Antony