Showing posts with label awareness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label awareness. Show all posts
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Reposting - Terminologies clarified
In the past, I've come across news reports and people who use HIV victim/sufferer or AIDS victim/sufferer and even terms like HIV/AIDS, which are actually incorrect.
So to be politically-correct, let me mention here that there is no such term as HIV or AIDS victim or sufferer. They are called person living with HIV (PLHIV) or person living with AIDS (PLWA). This is also meant to be more humane to those who have contracted the virus.
It would also be wise to refrain from writing HIV and AIDS as HIV/AIDS or HIV-AIDS because they are two entirely different matters. HIV refers to the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS, on the other hand, is a condition characterized by progressive failure of one's immune system, thus resulting in life-threatening opportunistic infections (OIs) like pneumonia, tuberculosis, meningitis, and cancers to thrive. It's the last stage of HIV infection.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Appalling
About 2 months ago, I signed up as a member of a Philippine-based forum and have been posting items on the Aids/HIV thread as part of my personal advocacy to increase awareness of the health issue. I have come out in that thread as a HIV-positive individual and for self protection, I use a codename only.
I have received quite a number of personal messages of encouragement, support and inquiries but what appalled me is the amount of misinformation about HIV/Aids and how it breeds so much baseless anxiety.
Let me cite two personal messages I received.
One from a married guy who suspects he has HIV simply because he noticed a drastic change in his build and stamina compared to his younger years. He didn't mention any symptom of HIV infection. He also said he is afraid that if he turns out positive of HIV, he would lose his job and thus his family would suffer and that he would be "herded by the health department into a facility for HIV-positive individuals and kept there for the rest of his life." To be honest, I found it funny and felt sorry for the guy.
The second personal message was from someone (I wasn't sure if the letter-sender was male or female), who revealed that their housemate turned out HIV-positive when the latter underwent a test as part of pre-employment requirements for a job abroad. The letter-sender asked for advice on what to do and was fearful of contracting HIV from their housemate.
In response to the first letter, I asked the guy if he has any physical symptoms of HIV infection aside from a drastic change in his body build. I recommended that the guy undergo a medical checkup to find out what's really wrong with him and take a HIV test as well to determine his status. I also said HIV-positive individuals are NOT herded into a facility and imprisoned there. I likewise told him that HIV-positive individuals are protected by a law against discrimination (including termination from one's job because of one's HIV status) and they can still lead healthy and productive lives as long as they live healthy, eat healthy, and take their prescribed medicines religiously. As for the second letter, I assured the letter-sender that he or she need not fear getting infected by their housemate through a mere handshake, use of the same comfort room, staying in the same room, sharing of utensils, among others because HIV is not an airborne virus and can only be transmitted mainly through unprotected sex and sharing of needles (among drug addicts).
In their respective replies, they thanked me for clarifying matters and allaying their fears.
This goes to show how some people still need to be taught adequately about Aids and HIV because really, the lack of information can result in unjustified fear.
I have received quite a number of personal messages of encouragement, support and inquiries but what appalled me is the amount of misinformation about HIV/Aids and how it breeds so much baseless anxiety.
Let me cite two personal messages I received.
One from a married guy who suspects he has HIV simply because he noticed a drastic change in his build and stamina compared to his younger years. He didn't mention any symptom of HIV infection. He also said he is afraid that if he turns out positive of HIV, he would lose his job and thus his family would suffer and that he would be "herded by the health department into a facility for HIV-positive individuals and kept there for the rest of his life." To be honest, I found it funny and felt sorry for the guy.
The second personal message was from someone (I wasn't sure if the letter-sender was male or female), who revealed that their housemate turned out HIV-positive when the latter underwent a test as part of pre-employment requirements for a job abroad. The letter-sender asked for advice on what to do and was fearful of contracting HIV from their housemate.
In response to the first letter, I asked the guy if he has any physical symptoms of HIV infection aside from a drastic change in his body build. I recommended that the guy undergo a medical checkup to find out what's really wrong with him and take a HIV test as well to determine his status. I also said HIV-positive individuals are NOT herded into a facility and imprisoned there. I likewise told him that HIV-positive individuals are protected by a law against discrimination (including termination from one's job because of one's HIV status) and they can still lead healthy and productive lives as long as they live healthy, eat healthy, and take their prescribed medicines religiously. As for the second letter, I assured the letter-sender that he or she need not fear getting infected by their housemate through a mere handshake, use of the same comfort room, staying in the same room, sharing of utensils, among others because HIV is not an airborne virus and can only be transmitted mainly through unprotected sex and sharing of needles (among drug addicts).
In their respective replies, they thanked me for clarifying matters and allaying their fears.
This goes to show how some people still need to be taught adequately about Aids and HIV because really, the lack of information can result in unjustified fear.
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