HIV Awareness

By: Zirah Sardoma

Philippines is a highly adopting country in terms of Sciences and Health. As our country opened-eyes in the cases of HIV, many of precautionary measures have been promoted to protect our body against the possibilty of getting HIV.

Here are some of healthcare factors to prevent getting HIV: 1.) Getting engaged in an unprotected sexual intercourse. Because the virus can be passed through liquids, there is a big chance to get the virus. Having sex with protection (condom) is highly advisable to prevent unwanted pregnancy and HIV or other types of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs). HIV can also be caught by sharing the same sex toys used by the one infected by the virus. So it is always necessary to use protection at sexual intercourses; 2.) Body fluid exposure. Blood or saliva. HIV can be transmitted through body fluids so it is necessary to take precautionary guides when dealing with a person infected with the virus. Always wear masks when walking around a healthcare areas and be careful not to drink at a used glass. When the skin was exposed to the body fluid of a person with HIV, immediately wash your infected area throughly to prevent the chance of infection; 3.) Pregnancy. If you happened to be pregnant while contaminated with HIV, there is a high risk for your unborn child to get the virus. But there is a plan that prevents the mother to transmit the virus to the child on ger womb. Caeserean method is the only option and the mother can’t breast-feed her child. This things have to be done in order for the child to be healthy and avoid it from getting the same virus; 4.) Education. These days when the Department of Education talks about the Sex Education, preventing HIV must be included in it. To learn the proper way how to avoid it and getting the awareness that we can, we can avoid it.

They say that prevention is better than cure. It is always important to be aware of what you can do to avoid HIV virus, it is for you to take yourself away from the disease you may get when having HIV, and what are the guides that you can do to avoid it. Whoever you are, a man or a woman, all of us have the chance of getting HIV so while it is still early, we must learn how to avoid it.