World AIDS Day - the day after
Dec. 2nd, 2006 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaI didn't feel comfortable mentioning World AIDS Day yesterday, because of Libby, to me it's her day first and a post dedicated to her is more important than mentioning AIDS on a specific day, when it should be something in our collective consciousness all the time.
I went out yesterday with my good friend Avihuh, who is very active in the Israel AIDS Task Force, he also spent October in South Africa, which is where my family came from before they came on Aliya to Israel (I, contrary to popular belief, was born in Israel, that's right, born and raised in the same country and town for 21 years, pretty neat) and since I visited there many times, and have Granny, Uncles, Cousins and other people from my parents life still living there, I still know what goes on there.
The AIDS crisis is best in Africa, because the largest number of infected people live in Africa, this does not make it an "African" disease, no more than the fact that in the early 80's the largest number of people in infected were gay men, that doesn't, nor did it, make the disease a "Homosexual" disease.
HIV passes via the exchange of bodily fluid (you cannot contract through kissing, unless you have an open sore on or in your mouth, you'd need to drink about six or more glasses of saliva in order to contract HIV through spit), blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk, those are the most common ways of contracting HIV, that means that by exchanging used needles (blood), having unsafe sex (semen and vaginal fluids) and by feeding a baby (via breast milk) while the mother is infected are the most common ways a person can pass on HIV to another person.
That said if you are sexually involved with more than one person always practice safe sex that means always use a condom or a gum-dam.
The myth that two women cannot contract HIV from one another is just that, a myth. As said before, HIV can be passed on via vaginal fluids, so use a gum-damn (or cut up a condom, or use Saran Wrap, the kind that doesn't have pores).
One of the worst atrocities that evolved in South Africa due to the AIDS epidemic is the rape of young girls, sometimes young enough to be toddlers, because of the belief that having sex with a virgin will cure a man of AIDS. This is, without even a semblance of doubt, utterly and completely false! So what happens is that not only does this little girl have to carry the trauma of rape for the rest of her life, she will most likely also be infected with HIV and contract AIDS... the vicious cycle will go on.
The only way to stop AIDS from spreading is to practice safe sex, so please, if you're sexually active, use a condom, a gum-dam and get tested regularly.
Don't think "it won't happen to me", think "This can happen to me" and save your life and the lives of the people you share your body with.
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
The epidemic can be stopped.
I went out yesterday with my good friend Avihuh, who is very active in the Israel AIDS Task Force, he also spent October in South Africa, which is where my family came from before they came on Aliya to Israel (I, contrary to popular belief, was born in Israel, that's right, born and raised in the same country and town for 21 years, pretty neat) and since I visited there many times, and have Granny, Uncles, Cousins and other people from my parents life still living there, I still know what goes on there.
The AIDS crisis is best in Africa, because the largest number of infected people live in Africa, this does not make it an "African" disease, no more than the fact that in the early 80's the largest number of people in infected were gay men, that doesn't, nor did it, make the disease a "Homosexual" disease.
HIV passes via the exchange of bodily fluid (you cannot contract through kissing, unless you have an open sore on or in your mouth, you'd need to drink about six or more glasses of saliva in order to contract HIV through spit), blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breast milk, those are the most common ways of contracting HIV, that means that by exchanging used needles (blood), having unsafe sex (semen and vaginal fluids) and by feeding a baby (via breast milk) while the mother is infected are the most common ways a person can pass on HIV to another person.
That said if you are sexually involved with more than one person always practice safe sex that means always use a condom or a gum-dam.
The myth that two women cannot contract HIV from one another is just that, a myth. As said before, HIV can be passed on via vaginal fluids, so use a gum-damn (or cut up a condom, or use Saran Wrap, the kind that doesn't have pores).
One of the worst atrocities that evolved in South Africa due to the AIDS epidemic is the rape of young girls, sometimes young enough to be toddlers, because of the belief that having sex with a virgin will cure a man of AIDS. This is, without even a semblance of doubt, utterly and completely false! So what happens is that not only does this little girl have to carry the trauma of rape for the rest of her life, she will most likely also be infected with HIV and contract AIDS... the vicious cycle will go on.
The only way to stop AIDS from spreading is to practice safe sex, so please, if you're sexually active, use a condom, a gum-dam and get tested regularly.
Don't think "it won't happen to me", think "This can happen to me" and save your life and the lives of the people you share your body with.
Stay safe.
Stay healthy.
The epidemic can be stopped.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 03:24 pm (UTC)People like "risk groups". It makes them feel safer.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-02 03:34 pm (UTC)"Oy".