World AIDS Day 2010

Spread love and the word. Not the virus.
May the World AIDS Day remind us to be more responsible about our reproductive health!

This year's commemoration of World AIDS Day is themed Universal Access and Human Rights.

From Avert:

An estimated 8,700 people were living with HIV in The Philippines in 2009.47 The country has traditionally had a very low HIV prevalence, with under 0.1% of the population infected. Even in groups such as sex workers and MSM that are typically associated with higher levels of HIV, prevalence rates above 1% have not yet been detected.48 In the case of sex workers, this is possibly due to efforts to screen and treat those selling sex since the early 1990s. However, there are reasons to believe that this situation may not last. In early 2010 the Department of Health in the Philippines stated the country was now on the brink of a "concentrated epidemic", due to a rise in prevalence.49 Condom use is not the norm in paid sex, drug users commonly share injecting equipment in some areas, and among Filipino youth, there is evidence of complacency about AIDS.50 51 National HIV prevalence among the most at risk populations which includes sex workers, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users, has increased more than five fold from 0.08 % in 2007 to 0.47 % in 2009. 5

Here are some answered common myths from World Aids Day.org:

1. Myth: You can’t have a baby if you or your partner is HIV positive.

If someone with HIV decides to have a child, there are options available to them to enable them to have a baby without infecting their partner and steps that can be taken to ensure their baby is not HIV positive.

2. Myth: If you get HIV you’ll die soon.

Treatments have come a long way, and although there isn’t a cure for HIV, it is not a death sentence. People diagnosed with HIV today can have a normal life expectancy and live healthy and productive lives.

3. Myth: It takes months before you can have a test for find out if you are infected with HIV.

An HIV test, that gives a reliable result, can be taken within a month of possible exposure to the virus.

Check some other facts by clicking the link above, or by simply googling.


You may also read the website of World Health Organization.


Be safe.