Workshop Training Materials Our HIV ABC - KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED ENGLISH ‘Our HIV ABC’ HIV Fact Sheet H – Human: HIV attacks humans, and is passed from person to person. I – Immuno-deficiency: The Immune System is the body’s defence system. The Immune System’s ‘soldier cells’ fight infection and disease. HIV attacks and destroys the ‘soldier cells,’ making the body weak, or deficient, and unable to fight illness: this is immuno-deficiency. V – Virus: A virus is a very small organism that can live and multiply inside cells in the human body. It cannot live on its own outside the body, it needs a host; in this case the hosts are the ‘soldier cells’ in human blood. A person infected with HIV carries the virus in these body fluids: blood semen / preseminal fluid vaginal fluids breast milk A person with HIV can infect another person if the infected fluids touch a cut or opening in the skin. Body fluids carrying the virus can also enter through mucus membranes, like the inside of the nose, mouth, vagina, anus or penis. HIV is not carried in these body fluids: tears saliva sweat urine The three most common ways that people become infected with HIV are: • Vaginal or anal sex without a condom • From mother-to-child through breast milk • Using dirty (contaminated) needles for injections In each case, HIV travels from the blood of the infected person to the blood of the uninfected person. Sharing dirty pins or knives to pierce your ears or cut tattoos is dangerous as you can easily become infected with HIV if they are contaminated. You cannot tell if a person has HIV by looking at them. Infected people may look healthy. Only an HIV test from a doctor can tell if someone is infected. © 2005 Sekolo Projects Inc. This document may be duplicated for non-profit use only. Other languages are available: www.sekoloprojects.org Workshop Training Materials Our HIV ABC - KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED ENGLISH AIDS Fact Sheet A – Acquired: Acquired means you have to do something to get the virus into your body. The Immune System only breaks down because the virus is present. I – Immune: The Immune System is how the body fights infection and disease. D – Deficiency: Deficiency means it no longer works well. S – Syndrome: Syndrome means a group of illnesses that are the indirect result of one virus. The HIV virus goes inside the ‘soldier cells’ of the Immune System and kills them as it multiplies. Without enough ‘soldier cells’ the body has no defence against common germs and illnesses. Opportunistic diseases, such as TB, ‘flu, and skin rashes, take advantage of the deficient immune system and weakness of the body. They make a person sick and the body cannot get better or become healthy again because of the weakness of their Immune System. It can take many years for HIV to kill the ‘soldier cells’ and weaken the Immune System. As HIV grows stronger, the body grows weaker. When the body cannot fight the opportunistic diseases, HIV has developed into AIDS. You cannot tell if a person has HIV or AIDS by looking at him or her. Only an HIV test can tell if someone is HIV+. In the hospital, a person is said to have AIDS when their T-cell (‘soldier cell’) count drops under 200 and they are sick with more than one opportunistic disease. © 2005 Sekolo Projects Inc. This document may be duplicated for non-profit use only. Other languages are available: www.sekoloprojects.org Workshop Training Materials Our HIV ABC - KEY CONCEPTS EXPLAINED ENGLISH A – Abstinence Abstinence means not doing something; it can mean not drinking. It can mean not smoking. In sexual terms, abstinence means not making sex. Ab-sti-nence is different from ab-sence, which means being away from something, for example, if children miss a school class, they are marked absent. You can abstain from running, even if you go to the athletics meet. If you are absent from the game, you are not there at all. In relationships, abstinence means not making sex. Remember: • • • • • You may still love your partner and be with them without making sex. If you already made sex, you can still choose to abstain. The fewer times you make sex, the less chance of getting HIV. An infected person can look healthy for many years before getting sick. You may trust your partner, but why should you trust your partner’s previous partner? ABSTINENCE IS THE ONLY 100% EFFECTIVE PROTECTION AGAINST THE SEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF HIV You can become infected in other non-sexual ways. See the HIV Fact Sheet. B – Be Faithful Be faithful means only having one sex partner in a loving and trusting relationship. You don’t have to be married. You don’t have to be a Christian. Being faithful is when you are just with one person. Having a partner is about honesty and love between two people. It is about trust, and it is about faith in each other. In a loving and faithful relationship, you can talk openly about sex, condoms, pregnancy and HIV without any fear. C – Use a Condom If you use a condom correctly and consistently (every time you have any kind of sex) you will have 97% effective protection against pregnancy, sexual diseases and HIV/AIDS. You have to know how to use condoms correctly for them to work well. Remember that male or female condoms only protect you from HIV if they are used: • every time you make sex • only one at a time • new and undamaged • with the correct water-based lubricant like K-Y Remember: Never reuse a condom. © 2005 Sekolo Projects Inc. This document may be duplicated for non-profit use only. Other languages are available: www.sekoloprojects.org