AIDS/ HIV

I "think" I met a Sister in Christ who had served together in a same church.
I only knew about her story thought a book after she left my church .
I can't really recognized her ( we didn't met for long ), and also she is slightly different , slimmer than before .
I met her in a shopping center yesterday .I Can't really remember her name well ....but when I looked at her name tag ......her name is one word same with the friend that I known .
( However I can't 100% sure , it was she )

She is a HIV positive carrier .



http://www.bridge.org.my/book/novel.htm


I was so sad to heard about her sad story when I read this book.

One and half month ago , I have a great chances to attended a conference which hold by Boys' Brigade Malaysia with partnership to the Malaysian Aids Council (MAC) .
This is one of the BBM Reachout project ,Aids/HIV awareness campaign for 2008.
Our purpose is to reachout to 100,000 people and we 're focusing on the youth .



Honestly , It's not easy for society to accept a HIV position person without the right information /mindset or willing heart to understand them .

Do you think it's our responsible to know more about HIV /AIDS?

You might think that it's non of your business ?
you might say you are not in the 3 major high risk categories ( Drug User ，sex workers and homosexual)

Your idea is wrong !
Yup , back to 1950s , We might say this high risks population cause the AIDS spread rapidly .BUT, nowadays the situation is totally changes.
Housewives become the second largest HIV infection group in Malaysia.

WHY ?

HIV positive women are often thought to be promiscuous, when in fact 90% of HIV positive women caught the virus from their husbands. OR I would like to say from boy friend?

You might doubt on what I am saying ! Am I right?
Most possibly you will not doubt on your own boy friend or even girl friend
but are you 100% sure , He /She is not HIV positive transmitter?
Ask yourself honestly . Do you know "Everything" about His/ Her history ?
He / she might truly loyal to you .........but what about His/ Her past?

We can't justify a HIV carrier with their characteristic and appearance?
Can we?

"HIV carriers may look and feel healthy but at the same time, they are able to transmit the virus to others. It is not possible to identify an HIV-positive person based on how they look on the outside. Prevention is, by far, still the best method for avoiding HIV infection."

They might look like most of us and live among us !

Sometimes there 're no symptoms for a HIV carriers !
They 're not always look sick



There are 3 main modes of HIV transmission:

• Unprotected, penetrative sex with an infected person
• Exchange of infected blood, for example sharing infected needles and syringes, blood transfusion or organ transplant
• Mother to child transmission (vertical transmission) during pregnancy, delivery or breastfeeding, which presents a 30 percent risk but can be lowered to less than 10 percent with the use of a medication called AZT

I found out that people in this modern world with the "Open -mind" in sexual relationship still think that talking about safe sex is a taboo .
Parent has the responsible to educate their children about sex education since their children is still young .
In addition , Government has the responsible to educate and provide more information to all the citizen . Conservative mindset shouldn't become the main barrier letting people know .

How is HIV not transmitted?

• Social contacts such as hugging
• Sharing food and drinks
• Studying or working together
• Sharing public facilities such as public phones, swimming pools or public toilets
• Sharing beds or home equipment
• Mosquito bites

http://www.mac.org.my/images/publication/akuHidup(Cina).pdf

http://www.mac.org.my/images/publication/akuHidup(BI).pdf

http://www.mac.org.my/images/publication/We_care.pdf


My post seems like kinda make people worried . Stigma and discriminate the HIV positive group ?

I never tried to mean this , as I had said , When we're not in the right path to know about HIV , we would still carry the myth ! We don't know the right way to deal with a positive diagnosis and coming to terms with the challenge of living with HIV/AIDS . They need support and love from society, they need the understanding from their family and closest friends .


P/S : We have heard too many myth ! Friends , please remove all the doubt in your heart , open heart and search for the fact ! No one deserves to be treat poorly just because He or She has it !



The youtube attachment is a TVB series that related with HIV transmission :









Will "Ah sam " infected HIV?



Wikipedia :

"In medicine, the window period for a test designed to detect a specific disease (particularly infectious disease) is the time between first infection and when the test can reliably detect that infection. In antibody-based testing, the window period is dependent on the time taken for seroconversion.

The window period is important to epidemiology and safe sex strategies, and in blood and organ donation, because during this time, an infected person or animal cannot be detected as infected but may still be able to infect others. For this reason, the most effective disease-prevention strategies combine testing with a waiting period longer than the test's window period.

The window period takes no more then 6 months."


and

HIV cannot survive outside the body. It is only present in high enough concentration to cause infection in the following body fluids:
• Blood and blood products;
• Semen (‘cum’) and pre-seminal fluid (‘pre-cum’);
• Vaginal and cervical secretions; and
• Breast milk.