World AIDS Day came and went this week causing only a small ripple in the large ocean that is most people's everyday lives. Have the general public forgotten how dangerous HIV is?
Although excellent antiretroviral therapies have resulted in a large reduction in both deaths and incidences of HIV developing into full-blown AIDS, the important thing to remember is that this is still something to be feared. The website of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) states that:
"HIV continues to be one of the most important communicable diseases in the UK. It is an infection associated with serious morbidity, high costs of treatment and care, significant mortality and high number of potential years of life lost. Each year, many thousands of individuals are diagnosed with HIV for the first time. The infection is still frequently regarded as stigmatising and has a prolonged ‘silent’ period during which it often remains undiagnosed."
Last month, the HPA suggested that perhaps a quarter of people with HIV in the UK – that's over 22,000 – are unaware they have the virus, and this week there have been calls for routine HIV testing to take place in high risk areas. Clearly this is still a massive problem, and not just in developing countries as an estimated 1.1 million Americans have HIV – so what can we do about it?
Well, awareness and prevention is by far the best approach to preventing a rise in these figures. As this is a sex column, I hope you all know what I'm about to say: always carry condoms. Unless you and your partner(s) have been recently tested and both have a clean bill of sexual health, by far the safest way to have sex is to rubber up before getting down to business.
If you haven't been tested, have you ever considered it? In the UK, visiting a genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinic is a fantastic route to the safest sex you'll ever have. You can get tested for STIs, get advice and also get free condoms! Everything is discussed in confidence, you don't have to use your real name, and the doctors there won't even tell your GP so there is no need to be embarrassed about anything.
What's stopping you? You shouldn't be waiting to get tested when you think you've got something, you should be doing it regularly to prove that you haven't. Surely taking a morning off work to get everything 'down there' checked out is a small price to pay? Most importantly though: spread the word. It's only when people are scared of HIV and AIDS that they are motivated to change their behaviour.
Lori Smith is currently celebrating her one-year anniversary of writing for BitchBuzz. If you want to read more of her work, check out her blog, Rarely Wears Lipstick.
Image via Auntie P's Flickr photostream.