One of the best ways you can support World AIDS Day is to get tested for HIV/AIDS.
According to AIDS.org testing is recommended if you:
* You think you may have been exposed to the HIV. If you’re not sure, take this anonymous survey.
* You are sexually active (3 or more sexual partners in the last 12 months)
* You received a blood transfusion between 1977 and 1985, or a sexual partner received a transfusion and later tested positive for HIV.
* You are uncertain about your sexual partner’s risk behaviors.
* You are a male who has had sex with another male at any time since 1977.
* Any of your male sexual partners has had sex with another male since 1977.
* You have used street drugs by injection since 1977, especially when sharing needles and/or other equipment.
* You have a sexually transmitted disease (STD), including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID).
* You are a health care worker with direct exposure to blood on the job.
* You are pregnant. There are now treatments that can greatly reduce the risk that a pregnant woman who has HIV will give the virus to her baby.
* You are a woman who wants to make sure you are not infected with HIV before getting pregnant.
Even if none of these risk factors affect you, it’s still a good idea to be tested. Getting tested can be scary, but the results may put your mind at ease. And it’s never a bad idea to know more about your health. For testing location near you takepart and visit http://www.hivtest.org/
CATEGORIES: Global Health
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- Worldchanging
I hate to be the devils advocate but…
I can’t see how the huge cost to test everyone is going to save humanity. We all have to die anyway. Why spend money trying to prolong the inevitable. How will we afford to test everyone in the world? Remember, wall street crashed. The greenbacks are gone.
The good news is that mankind’s immune system is evolving and some of us will be not be able to live with it without illness. We will pass that on to our children in genes and breast milk.
Our cousins, the chimpanzees, are immune already.
I worry about the money for tests, drugs, and surgeries required to keep us all healthy.
I thought Hipocrates predicted our immune systems would soon be working at 100%.
He lived about 2400 years ago.
Sorry I have an erroneous NOT.
The good news is that mankind’s immune system is evolving and some of us will be able to live with it without illness.
I suppose readers here will be familiar with some of the work that has been done to clarify some important questions relating to AIDS and HIV. How much of this work is accurate, is difficult to know, but it seems to be important to be aware of it, so that people can make informed decisions. Here are a couple of places that could be useful for people who want to know more about the causes, treatments and prevention for AIDS:
http://www.theothersideofaids.com/home.html
http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/hiv/jscatch.htm
Some of this work is not new, but it seems to have never been debated openly (just in case it’s wrong?). It has become a sort of taboo, with a lot of misunderstandings surrounding it. It deserves to be understood. Everyone who is living with the threat of AIDS deserves to be informed about this information. Everyone who is living with the tragic loss of loved ones because of AIDS, and everyone who is giving their time and money to help save people’s lives and improve quality of life should have access to this information… Just in case.
If this information offends people, I must remind them that where there is no open-mindedness, there is no chance of efficient scientific progress. So, please for the sake of progress in seeking answers to the world’s AIDS crisis, don’t dismiss this information before it is properly debated and understood.
Lora,
To play devil’s advocate right back - I think one of the most important reasons to be tested is to help stop the spreading of the disease. If you know you have AIDS or HIV, then you can make sure that you don’t give the disease to anyone else. It is important we all know our status when it comes to our relationships with partners, having children and having hospitals handle our blood.
Hopefully though our immune systems are evolving and things like AIDS will soon become a thing of the past.
What is the cost per test, do you know?
What resources are needed and where do they come from?
If a blood test is required then a syringe is also needed which is metal plus plastic and very hard to recycle.
Then who will trust the results because mistakes will be made?
Another test or two will have to be performed.
And finally who pays the cost?
Stay in love and save the planet!!