Stigma and discrimination of HIV infected

people

December 1,
2014 World
AIDS day

What is HIV and AIDS?

HIV is a virus which attacks the human immune
system, the body's defense against disease. A
person with HIV may feel completely well and have
no symptoms
In time, a person with HIV may develop particular
rare illnesses or cancers because their immune
system is weakened. When this happens, the person
is said to have AIDS

Where did
HIV come
from?

a source of infection - a
type of chimpanzee in
West Africa
most likely was
transmitted to humans
and mutated into HIV
when humans hunted
these chimpanzees for
meat and came into
contact with their infected
blood
over decades, the virus
slowly spread across
Africa and later into other
parts of the world

How do people become

infected with HIV?
In a person with HIV or
AIDS, the body fluids which
contain enough HIV to infect
someone else are:

HIV cannot reproduce

outside the human body. It is
not spread by:

blood

insects, including mosquitoes.

sperm and seminal fluid

vaginal fluids, including
menstrual fluids
breast milk

air or water.

saliva, tears, or sweat.

casual contact like shaking
hands or sharing dishes.
closed-mouth or social
kissing

 HIV most often spreads through unprotected sex with

an infected person. It may also spread by sharing
drug needles or through contact with the blood of an
infected person. Women can give it to their babies
during pregnancy or childbirth

The first signs of HIV infection may be swollen glands

and flu-like symptoms. These may come and go a
month or two after infection. Severe symptoms may
not appear until months or years later.

!
There is no cure for HIV or AIDS, though some of
the symptoms and problems that develop as a result
of these infections may be treated or eased
For now, the best one can do is prevent contracting
the disease by taking precautions to prevent HIV
and being aware of the HIV/AIDS information
available

World AIDS day

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year,
is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS
pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection.
Government and health officials observe the day,
often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics

World AIDS Day was first conceived in August 1987

by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public
information officers for the Global Programme on
AIDS at the World Health Organization in Geneva,
Switzerland.

World AIDS day

The Red Ribbon is
the global symbol
for solidarity with
HIV-positive
people and those
living with AIDS.

World AIDS day

The theme for World AIDS Day 1st December 2014, is
'Getting to Zero'. After 30 years of the global fight
against HIV and AIDS, this year the global community
has committed to focusing on achieving 3 targets:
"Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero
AIDS-related deaths."
Progress towards meeting these targets has already
started. Annual new HIV infections have dropped by
15% since 2001 and AIDS-related deaths have declined
from 2.2 million in 2005 to 1.8 million in 2010.

BE CAREFUL!!!
There is no way to tell just by looking at someone
whether they are infected with HIV. Someone can
be infected but have no symptoms and still look
perfectly healthy. They might also feel perfectly
healthy and not know themselves that they are
infected. The only way to know if a person is
infected or not is if they have an HIV test.