What is HIV
HIV is the virus that attacks the immune system, the body’s defences against infection.
How is HIV transmitted?
The virus is transmitted through bodily fluids containing the virus, such as blood, semen, pre-ejaculatory fluids, rectal mucus and vaginal fluids. It is transmitted in the following ways:
- Having unprotected sex
- Transfusing infected blood
- Using common accessories in the use of psychoactive substances
- From HIV-positive mother to foetus
What is AIDS?
AIDS is a syndrome that weakens the immune system and makes a person severely ill from one or more occasional infections
Stigma and discrimination
The stigma and discrimination that HIV-positive people sometimes experience is most often due either to simple ignorance or outright prejudice and fearful reactions.
What can I do?
- Avoid risky behaviours and practices that expose you to HIV
- Eliminate the stigmatisation of our fellow human beings
- Protect yourself and others
HIV-positive people are not a threat to others
- Yes, HIV is transmissible, but it doesn’t catch so easily.
- You can’t transmit the virus through everyday contact.
- Condoms are a good way to prevent sexual transmission of HIV.
- It is possible to prevent almost all cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.