It’s your body, and you can do what you want to do! But if you plan to live a longer and healthier life, you’ll do your best to care for it, including getting tested for HIV/AIDS. And because you care about your family and your community too, you will stay informed for the sake of others.
THE LIFE EXPECTANCY FOR THE HIV POSITIVE HAS CHANGED
When I was growing up, telling someone they had HIV or AIDS was like giving them a death sentence. Today it’s not, thanks to some pretty incredible advances in science.
These advances include medications that lower the HIV count in an HIV positive person eliminating the risk of transmission to an HIV negative person. Also, there are two FDA approved drugs that effectively block HIV-1 from infecting people that are HIV negative. Here are the details!
- PrEP — PrEP stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis and is the first drug of its kind. It was used in HIV positive patients before 2012. However, in July of 2012, the FDA approved it as a preventative measure in the fight to prevent new infections in noninfected adults. And so far, it’s worked very well. Users take PrEP once daily. It works by blocking HIV and stopping it from spreading throughout your bloodstream. Per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ‘Studies have shown that PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99% when taken daily. Among people who inject drugs, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV by at least 74% when taken daily.’ SOURCE: PrEP HIV Basics per the CDC
- DESCOVY — In October of 2019, the FDA approved the second drug to prevent HIV infection, Descovy. Per the FDA’s website Descovy, is for ‘at-risk adults and adolescents weighing at least 35kg for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to reduce the risk of HIV-1 infection from sex, excluding those who have receptive vaginal sex.’ Descovy’s effectiveness in receptive vaginal sex has not been evaluated. The success of Descovy was based on a trial that tested HIV negative men and transgender women who have sex with men and were at risk of the HIV-1 infection.
- UNDETECTABLE = UNTRANSMITTABLE — Some other great news is U=U or undetectable = untransmittable. Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) helps to keep people that are HIV positive alive and thriving by reducing their viral load or the amount of HIV in their bodies. Once the HIV viral load is under 200, the virus is what’s referred to as ‘undetectable’ which means there is no risk of transmitting HIV to someone that is HIV negative.
Now, you may be thinking, wow, this is good news, but I haven’t heard about it before. And let me tell you, I didn’t either. I can’t conclusively say I know why, but I can say the largest peer group affected by HIV/AIDS are gay men and men who have sex with men. In 2018, Gilead Sciences announced ad campaigns to target peer groups that are disproportionately affected, including gay couples, transgender women, and people of color. The advertising is predicated on the people at more considerable risk.
YOU HAVE THE POWER TO HELP END HIV/AIDS – USE IT
I don’t hear many people talking about HIV and AIDS, and this needs to change. Starting with us, and now you. So, go out and get tested. Talk to your friends about this and invite them to join the conversation. Tell them dating with HIV is possible. Having children with HIV is possible. Love is possible. Living your best life is possible. And putting a stop to HIV and AIDS is possible. These advances in the global fight against HIV and AIDS are incredible, but they aren’t a cure – yet. So, mobilize your voice throughout your community and help end this thing for real,
RESOURCES
Can You Be HIV Positive and Not Infect Your Partner
Transmittable Activities and Their Risk
First-ever FDA Approved Drug to Prevent HIV Transmission (2012)
Featured Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
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