Aids Prevention: Practical Tips on how to avoid HIV infection

A person doesn’t actually "get" AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). They might get infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), and later they might develop AIDS. They can get infected with HIV from anyone who's infected, even if they don't look sick and even if they haven't been tested HIV-positive yet. The blood, vaginal fluid, semen, and breast milk of people infected with HIV has enough of the virus in it to infect other people. Most people get the HIV virus by:

• Having sex with an infected person;
• Sharing a needle (shooting drugs) with someone who's infected;
• Being born when their mother is infected, or drinking the breast milk of an infected woman.

Your risk of getting HIV or passing it to someone else depends on several factors. Do you know what they are? Here are a few tips that will surely help.

There's nothing religious about this. And, it's not about saving yourself for the right guy or being a virgin for the rest of your life. It's about keeping yourself safe from HIV. You shouldn't have oral, anal or vaginal sex until you are in a monogamous relationship and each of you knows the other's HIV status. Otherwise, you'll need to use some protection in order to keep you safe.

If you are planning on having multiple partners or having sexual intercourse with a person that you've just met, make sure that you put on a latex condom. If both of you are already HIV positive, use condoms to lessen the risk of infection from other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and possible infection with a different strain of HIV. If only one of you has HIV, use a latex condom and lubricant in order to prevent dryness that can cause the vaginal wall to tear every time you have sex.

Talk about HIV and other STDs with each partner before you have sex. Learn as much as you can about each partner’s past behavior (sex and drug use), and consider the risks to your health before you have sex. Ask your partners if they have recently been tested for HIV; encourage them and others to do so.

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Do not inject illicit drugs (drugs banned by law). You can get HIV through needles, syringes, and other works if they are contaminated with the blood of someone who has HIV. Also, drugs also cloud your mind, which may result in riskier sex. If you do inject drugs, do the following: Use only clean needles, syringes, and other works.

If you think you may have another STD such as gonorrhea, syphilis, or chlamydia trachomatis infection, you should get yourself tested and get treatment as these STDs will increase your risk of getting HIV. Even if you think you are from the low risk group for HIV infection, get tested whenever you have a regular medical check-up. If you are a woman who is planning to get pregnant or who is pregnant, get tested as soon as possible, before you have your baby. If you have, or plan to have, more than one sex partner: Get an HIV Test!! If you are a man who has had sex with other men, get tested at least once a year.

Get vaccinated against Hepatitis A and B viruses. Because Hepatitis A and B attacks the liver and weakens the body, it makes it more susceptible to HIV.

To protect yourself, remember these ABCs:

A=Abstinence (Don’t engage in any form of sex)

B=Be Faithful (Don’t fool around)

C=Condoms (Don’t leave home without it)

“An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure”