The 1st of December 2018 marked the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day – a global health campaign first initiated by WHO in 1988 and the theme for this year is “Know your status”.
The objectives include: Urging people to know their HIV status through testing, and to access HIV prevention, treatment and care services and Urge policy-makers to promote a “health for all” agenda for HIV and related health services, such as tuberculosis (TB), hepatitis and noncommunicable diseases.
In recent years it appears that there is less “noise” around the HIV/AIDS topic but the truth is that it is still a global epidemic, worse in the African region, with our dear country Nigeria having some really scary AIDS statistics, so it is still as important as ever to Know your status.
Here are a few recent statistics according to the WHO.
- Africa is the most affected region by HIV/AIDS in the world, particularly among young women.
- The WHO African Region is the most affected region, with 25.7 million people living with HIV in 2017. The African region also accounts for over two thirds of the global total of new HIV infections.
- In 2017, an estimated 47% of new infections occurred among key populations and their partners.
- Between 2000 and 2017, new HIV infections fell by 36%, and HIV-related deaths fell by 38% with 11.4 million lives saved due to ART in the same period.
- It is estimated that currently only 75% of people with HIV know their status. In 2017, 21.7 million people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) globally.
- 1 million people were living with HIV in the West and Central Africa Region in 2017 among them 440,000 were adolescents, with 250,000 adolescent girls.
- In 2017, 280 000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in the West and Central Africa Region, corresponding to 24% decrease since 2010. Adolescents both sex contributed 13,000 of these deaths.
These figures are far from reassuring and should be a cause of concern for all of us.
Many people think of HIV/AIDS as something that can never happen to them, but the truth is that a single sexual encounter or a needle stick injury can result in a HIV infection and it could happen to anyone. Unfortunately, the stigma attached to the disease prevents many people from getting tested or getting treatment. Many people still think of HIV as a death sentence because there is no cure for HIV infection.
However, effective antiretroviral (ARV) drugs can control the virus and help prevent transmission so that people with HIV, and those at substantial risk, can enjoy healthy, long and productive lives. Believe it or not, patients on ARVs many times end up dying of causes unrelated to HIV/AIDS.
Now why is it important to know your status.
Knowing your HIV/AIDS status is important because early diagnosis and treatment is key in improving HIV outcomes. Also getting more HIV positive people on treatment, reduces the spread of the virus which is the best we can hope for while science continues to work on finding a cure for this tricky virus.
Quick facts to remember about HIV:
- HIV can be transmitted via the exchange of body fluids from infected individuals including blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal secretions.
- HIV can not be contacted through ordinary day-to-day contact such as kissing, hugging, shaking hands, or sharing personal objects, food or water.
- Having unprotected anal or vaginal sex is the most common way of contacting the virus.
- Having another sexually transmitted infection such as syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, and bacterial vaginosis can increase your risk of HIV infection.
- Receiving unsafe injections, blood transfusions, tissue transplantation or any medical procedures that involve unsterile cutting or piercing can increase risk of HIV infection.
- Getting tested for HIV can be done with a simple finger prick test that requires only a drop of blood.
- People living with HIV may not have any physical manifestations of the disease, in other words, E no dey show for face.
Voluntary counselling and testing centres are available in almost every government hospital in Nigeria free of charge. It only takes a few seconds to Know your status so do it today.
