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mbay
Germany
1007 Posts |
 Posted - 03 Nov 2006 : 11:31:06
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Confronting with HIV/AIDS which way out?
Don’t we, especial the kids needed more SEXUALY CLEARANCES?
What is a bigger problem in the Islamic world is that a lake of definitions of sex which I don’t took it as againsing our religions or culture. Example in Egypt they even have especial TV program of this, and is a woman who the people are sharing their problems with her.
In this unforesight but controllable fighting we need each others help. Any idea, advice will welcome come to one or the other as saving of lives.
Thanks &Peace.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200611020802.html
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Edited by - mbay on 03 Nov 2006 11:41:45 |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 03 Nov 2006 : 14:27:14
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Mbay, I think a program like in Egypt is very progressive. It could help a lot if they do it in a serious and decent way.
GRTS already has some good health programs, including a series about HIV/AIDS. I like these small films - they are close to real life and give good informations, but not in a dry, theoretical way. After having seen such a program about Malaria my sister-in-law and me changed into something like 'health policewomen' on the compound, constantly watching out for water pots left open... We are a bit unnerving for the family, but it works. |
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Dalton1
3485 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2006 : 19:30:04
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This is a well researched HIV/AIDS piece. I am enlightened that one cannot get aids by kissing. I hope the kissers don't have leap cracks or blood exchanges through the tongues or coming from the teeth. The condom also seems protective, but a known fact that condoms easily burst.
Kindly read, culled from the opinion column of the Shepherd (Gainako), Nov. 15. The author of the piece, Sonja J, is a leading woman activist, resides in UK>
Kindly forward blind copies to all media fraternities. The war against the killer disease should be a combined effort.Those subcribed at the Gambia-L can also forward.
Down with HIV AIDS!!
Gainako on-line Newspaper (GON)
Motto: Guardianship & Independence
OPINION
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.......................WOMEN & THEIR CHILDREN
...............................Living with HIV is not easy, but life is worth the challenge.
...................................By Songa J, leading gender activist, UK................Posted November 15th, 2006
HIV is not who you are, or what you are.
HIV travels at illegal speed.
HIV is part of your life and you live together.
HIV still no cure!
HIV still no vaccine!
HIV still ignoring it?
Worldwide picture:
More than 20million individuals have already died of AIDS, more than 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and
some are predicting that this figure could reach 100 million by the end of the decade.
12 million orphans as a direct result of HIV/AIDS.
A third of today’s 15 year olds will die in those countries hardest hit by AIDS.
The most chilling statistic of all this is that 95percent of people carrying HIV don’t even know they are infected, hence the
fact, that unless something changes, the number of people infected will continue to grow. They don’t have symptoms and
they have not been tested, so, unknowingly, they pass the virus on to spouses, partners, and lovers at the rate of 14,000 a
day. And the pandemic spreads.
What is the number of people who have been cured of AIDS? 00,000,000.
We need to wake up fast!
Kofi Anman said, “If you want to save Africa, you must save the African women first. It is they who care for the young, the
old, the sick and dying.
It is they who nurture social networks that help societies share burdens. AIDS in Africa and around the world is more and
more wearing a woman’s face. We will gain control of the pandemic only if women are the very centre of our strategies.”
What’s the big deal about HIV and AIDS?
It’s easy to think that HIV and AIDS is something for other people to worry about – people who sleep around, drug users,
gay people. This is wrong – everyone, whoever they are, wherever they live need to take the threat seriously. To be able to
protect yourself, you need to know the facts, and know how to avoid becoming infected.
KNOW SOME BASIC FACTS OF HIV TRANSMISSON & TESTING
HIV stands for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
HIV is the virus, which leads to AIDS. It is usually many years before it causes illness. HIV attacks the body’s immune
system, the body’s defence against disease, so that it can no longer fight off certain infections. Symptoms appear as the
bodies immune system becomes less good at fighting these infections.
HIV is a virus that causes the incurable and life-threatening medical condition called AIDS.
WHAT IS AIDS?
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We say that a person has AIDS when their immune system has
become SO weak that it can no longer fight off a whole range of diseases with which it would normally cope.
There are FOUR main routes by which HIV can be transmitted:
THROUGH UNPROTECTED VAGINAL OR ANAL SEX
Whatever your sexuality, it doesn’t matter. If you have vaginal or anal sex with someone who has HIV, and you don’t use a
condom, you can become infected with HIV.
SHARING NEEDLES
If you share needles or other drug injecting equipment that contains traces of HIV infected blood, you can become infected
with HIV.
MOTHER TO BABY
If a pregnant woman has HIV, she can pass it on to her child in THREE ways: during pregnancy, during birth, or through
breastfeeding. There are proven steps mothers can take to reduce the possibility of their unborn child contracting HIV.
INFECTED BLOOD
You can become infected with HIV BY RECEIVING INFECTED BLOOD OR BLOOD PRODUCTS AS PART OF A
MEDICAL TREATMENT. In some countries blood, blood products and donated organs are screened for HIV and
infected materials destroyed.
The virus is transmitted through blood, vaginal fluids and semen. It can only be passed on if it enters the bloodstream through
the delicate skin of the vagina or rectum, fresh, open cuts or through injecting.
So how do you get infected?
HIV is in the sexual fluids or blood of an infected person, so if their infected blood or sexual fluids get into your bloodstream,
you can become infected yourself. This usually happens by;
Having unprotected sex with an infected person Sharing needles used to inject drugs with an infected person
Being born to a mother who has HIV can also infect babies and a very small number of people have become infected in the
past by having medical treatment using infected blood transfusions.
HIV cannot be transmitted by:
Kissing
Touching
Holding hands
Sharing eating utensils
Toilet seats
Swimming pools
Insect or animal bites
IS THERE AN HIV VACCINE?
Not yet. There are several potential vaccines undergoing extensive trials, but even if they prove to be of benefit, it will be
some years before they are widely available.
IS THERE A CURE FOR HIV?
NO! Although there are new drugs to keep HIV under control, they do not completely get rid of the virus. Because there is
no cure, once a person becomes infected with HIV, they stay infected for the rest of their lives.
IS THERE TREATMENT FOR HIV?
YES. There are treatments that can prolong life. Many people using these treatments have been able to live full, active lives.
Some people just cannot afford the treatment.
THERE IS CURRENTLY NO VACCINE TO PREVENT HIV/AIDS AND THERE IS NO CURE.
HOW CAN I PROTECT MYSELF FROM HIV?
The best way to protect you from HIV is by consistent and proper use of condoms. Condoms must be used with care if they
are to be most effective.
WHAT IS AN HIV TEST?
SO how do you get tested? You can have an HIV test at a sexual health clinic.
An HIV test is a simple blood test, which checks for antibodies to HIV. Antibodies are your body’s response to a viral
infection.
Some clinics can give you the results on the same day, in other places you may have to wait for a week or more. You don’t
have to use your real name if you don’t want to.
An HIV NEGATIVE result means you do not have HIV antibodies in your blood.
HIV antibodies DO NOT APPEAR in your blood the day you get infected. Rather, HIV antibodies may take up to THREE
MONTHS TO SHOW in your blood. Because of this, some people who test negative may be advised to have another HIV
test at later date.
An HIV POSITIVE result indicates HIV antibodies were found in your blood and you have been infected. This means that
you can pass HIV on to others.
BUT I want to have sex!
You can make yourself much safer by using a condom. Condoms can break, but if they’re used correctly and carefully they
can greatly reduce the risks of being infected with HIV. Keep in mind that talking to your partner about using a condom is a
great way to ENSURE you both feel comfortable and safe.
HOW can I tell if someone’s infected with HIV?
There is no way to tell just by looking at someone whether they have HIV. Someone can be infected but have no symptoms
and still look and feel perfectly healthy, and he or she might not know they’re infected. The only way to know if a person is
infected or not is if they have a blood test.
SUPPORT, STIGMA & EDUCATION
The stigma surrounding HIV is paramount and we must challenge it. Women’s biology makes them especially vulnerable to
HIV infection, and for this reason, women’s groups must take AIDS to the forefront of their agenda.
The best defence against ignorance and fear is knowledge. You must carry out basic education, talk and keep on educating.
People need to be educated in the HIV virus and the education is sometimes best when it comes from people living the
experience. Women can get together and teach the children about the virus that takes mothers and fathers away from them;
teach them to be careful. We should focus on our youth so that we can stop this disease being passed on to the next
generation. A terribly misplaced idea exist’s in peoples minds that the AIDS crisis is ebbing, when in fact it is going strong
and is now well into it’s third decade of devastation. HIV rates may be much higher in some countries than others, but the
factors that cause the spread of HIV are common to all countries.
HIV does not discriminate. But people do. Rejection and discrimination are usually fuelled by fear and ignorance. It can be
devastating for those who discover their status to then have to cope with reaction from those whose support they depend on
most. For this reason families and friends may be the last to know, if they are told at all. HIV positive mothers may be
especially anxious to protect their children from stigma.
Fears need to be dispelled about what HIV is, how it can be transmitted and how people live with it. It’s very easy for the
majority of people to think HIV/AIDS has nothing to do with me! There is still the notion of the innocent and the guilty.
Children are innocent and everybody else is guilty and deserves what they get. You can be an individual woman, a mother,
and daughter, a sister a friend and a member of the community, you can be all of those, HIV is just part of it. A person can
have many skills and many right’s as a person, and having a virus in your body doesn’t diminish your ability.
There may be no cure but there are still ways of supporting and helping those who are affected and those who are dedicating
their lives to preventing others from becoming infected. Some African cultures where sexual fidelity in marriage is only
expected of wives, young married women are becoming infected even faster than those who are unmarried but sexually
active. Many women assume that they couldn’t be at risk because they didn’t fall into the classic stereotypes formulated in
the early days of the pandemic. Yet some women who have been faithful to the same man all their lives, are finding
themselves HIV. It takes both partners to be faithful. HIV loves poverty and desperation. Sexual violence is appallingly
commonplace, and requests for a partner to use a condom can be interpreted as the woman admitting to extra-marital
relations.
Do not be ashamed of being HIV positive. Be positive in your thoughts, it is possible to teach and educate the young ones.
To those who are infected, teach that HIV is controllable and you can live your life to the fullest. To those who are affected,
be supportive, do not discriminate or be judgemental because HIV affects us all. Urge people to accept the infected ones, let
them see their future and reach their dreams like before contracting HIV.
Fear, misconceptions and lack of understanding about HIV/AIDS play an important role in creating stigma. There are moral
judgements founded on absolute ignorance. HIV is growing, and escalating fast in the heterosexual community. People need
to understand that it’s a disease that affects everyone, not just certain people, and the only way we can prevent it is by
educating and practising safely. Open discussion about sex and its safe practice is still a taboo subject in some societies,
which is why we are not effectively tackling the rise of sexually transmitted infections. The fear and denial of accepting
sexually transmitted infection, as a real threat is especially apparent when it comes to HIV and AIDS.
We do live in a society where you have to be careful who you tell because people judge you. There needs to be education to
dispel the fears and assumptions about people who are HIV positive. The biggest single common issue for anyone who is
HIV positive is the fear of stigma, the fear of other people’s reaction to him or her, of being discriminated against. However
real or perceived that is, it matters to the individual. Fear of stigma maintains HIV as something you don’t talk about, as a
secret you can’t share. Then you carry that additional burden of fear along with the other issues of everyday life.
People are terrified that neighbours and communities will find out their status. It’s ignorance. People are scared, thinking you
can catch HIV from sharing a cup, cuddling, sharing a hair comb, or that your tears will infect. It’s ignorance. People tend
not to find out about HIV until it actually affects them or someone in their family. People’s level of ignorance seems just as
great as it ever was. When
you are educated about HIV/AIDS, and you come up against the people who are still ignorant, you think, do people really
still believe this?
Greater effort is needed to implement preventative strategies and breakdown the stigma towards those infected with the HIV
virus. People need to feel able to seek
diagnoses without fear of discrimination. Even if a cure is found, preventing HIV/AIDS should always come first. Treating it
comes second simply because
you don’t want it to come to that in the first place. Women today that have tested positive have somewhere to go, someone
to ask questions. Not so many years ago there was no one to ask and the solitude was enormous. But today you can get
together and share experiences.
Women and children with HIV need a community place to get together and share experiences. To help those people that still
have to face the stigma, the isolation. To improve the lives of women living with HIV and their families. You can be very sick
and emaciated. Loosing hope, suffering from stress, fear and isolation. You may find out you are HIV positive and not know
another HIV positive person in the world. To go and meet other HIV positive women can be an inspiration. It can make you
feel stronger; just knowing you are not the only one. If the women’s community can make sure that one woman in the world
does not feel alone it will have achieved its objective
Train people in home based care. Help children cope with psychological and practical trauma of becoming AIDS orphans.
Think about what it is like for child separation, and teach the mothers how to fill in a memory book for the children to keep.
Even if you only help one woman every month who is finding it very stressful with coping with the different stages of the HIV
infection. Share information on the prevention of HIV and help them purchase medicines if you can. People may eat with
you, or share the same washroom with you. But sometimes there is no support or caring, just indifference. It must be terrible
to think that there is no one to extend greetings to you; everyone is indifferent to you. Poor women are also less likely to
receive medical attention for HIV/AIDS they don’t have the time on the resources. They are too busy caring for the family to
acknowledge their own illness. In a country where women are already discriminated against, they fear stigma and ostracism
from family, friend and entire communities, including from other women who think that they must have done something to
deserve it. They are often blamed for bringing the virus into the family.
HIV/AIDS is a disease that can take away all your dignity and self-respect. When you become blind when you have never
had trouble with your eyes. When you speak incoherently to your children. When you are unable to make decisions. When
you can hardly draw the blanket up to your shoulders and you are feeling cold. When you can’t even swallow water. That’s
when you begin to lose all self-respect. Someone else has to make decisions for you. We need to help families understand
that you need to just hug them. You need to take Vaseline and massage their bodies because they are lying down at all times,
unable to turn. They need to be seated in a chair have warm clothes make them feel warm feel loved and cared for. Some
people just want to find out exactly what to do to keep on living. They need counselling and how to keep healthy and try
avoiding opportunistic infections because their immune system has been suppressed, and to accept themselves as they are
because acceptance is the most important element of positive living. We need to understand what HIV does to people’s lives
and understand how it can be stopped. We need to be educated and to look after people and loved one’s with AIDS,
helping them to have death with dignity.
It is the responsibilities of government and all of us to support the millions of people around the world who struggle daily to
cope with stigma and illness, to protect their families and communities, to carry on with their lives. If we want to create a
world that is more equitable and based on justice, then we need to face up to the challenges of preventing and combating
HIV/AIDS and provide whatever education and support we can, wherever it’s needed.
Anti-retroviral therapy, though effective in its ability to allow those infected with the virus to continue to lead a near normal
life is not the answer. It is not a cure. It does not prevent the spread of HIV. Then there is access. Less than ten per cent of
those in need of anti-retroviral therapy have access to the drugs. Some of those who can access the treatment cannot afford
it.
The educated will hear the clock ticking for the drugs themselves can cause kidney failure and other side effects, or that the
virus will mutate.
There is always something to fight for with HIV until there is a cure.
Make sure that everybody with HIV has access to healthcare no matter what his or her income.
For many people everyday is world AIDS day.
Sonja
......................© Copyright, 2006: Gainako On-line Newspaper. Site Maintained by Gamway Computers
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"There is no god but Allah (SWT); and Muhammad (SAW)is His last messenger." shahadah. Fear & Worship Allah (SWT) Alone! (:
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Edited by - Dalton1 on 18 Nov 2006 19:43:09 |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 18 Nov 2006 : 23:30:10
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This is a good piece, repeating very clearly the message. There is nothing new in this, but the message needs repeating, because a new generation is becoming sexually active. In UK new adverts are just coming out at the moment.
The message about safety is abstain, if you cant abstain then stick to one partner, if you cant stick to one partner then ALWAYS use a condom.
The MOST important message that was almost hidden is that if you are sexually active then you should be regularly tested for HIV (perhaps annually??) If you have had unprotected sex you need to wait 3 months before you can take the test reliably. |
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jambo
3300 Posts |
Posted - 20 Nov 2006 : 17:17:58
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mbay, you are right about sexualy clearances, but some families do not talk about sex full stop. never mind the illnesses related to sex. If it is written in the papers how many people get a newspaper, gambia needs more health workers and school teachers to be able to pass on the messages and information especially in the rural areas.
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sab
United Kingdom
912 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2006 : 15:37:10
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Gambiabev, If you look deeper into the paragraphs and forget that Europe has had opportunity to read this material for the past twenty years, would you agree that NGO's, womens organisations or clinics in Africa dealing with womens issues could find value in this article by lifting information and transferring some of it to art/picture form to help educate communities? The percentage of ladies able to read in The Gambia (as you know) is very small & information in book form like that posted would cost the equivelent of a bag of rice unless printed by NGO'S etc., so the information MUST be done VERBALLY.
Plainly written planting the seeds of thought to set aside the 'discrimination of HIV/AIDS to people where talking sex, intimate details or disease are still taboo. |
The world would be a poorer place if it was peopled by children whose parents risked nothing in the cause of social justice, for fear of personal loss. (Joe Slovo - African revolutionary) |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2006 : 18:29:27
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I think womens groups on the villages are very empowering and VERBALLY spreading the information between health workers and villagers in this informal way is the best way for people to get the message.
In Pirang the women meet together on Sundays at the school when it is closed to the children. They have talks and drink sweet tea. Its very sociable. |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2006 : 18:31:21
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| AT Kwinella high school they do drama work shops acting out the various messages to do with safe sex. This is very good and open minded of the school. Many schools in the UK dont even do this that well! |
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Momodou
Denmark
11790 Posts |
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