Script for ÒHIV and AIDS: Prevention for PositivesÓ
Hi, my name is [PRESENTER NAME]. IÕm [PRESENTER ROLE]. Welcome to the ÒHIV and
AIDS: Prevention for Positives.Ó This video is intended for individuals who are
HIV positive and their partners and will explain how to reduce your risk of
transmitting or contracting HIV.
HIV is a 100% preventable illness. It is important to remember that we can
all help stop the spread of this deadly virus. If you are HIV negative, it is important to remember how HIV
is transmitted. You can minimize your risk of contracting it through
abstinence, by being mutually faithful to one partner, by using a condom for
every sexual activity including oral, vaginal, and anal sex, and for those who
inject drugs, by not sharing needles.
Obviously, if you are in a culture where you do not have equal rights,
you may not be able to follow these guidelines.
Knowing your HIV status is the first step in making
sure that you will never spread it.
The U.S. government has even suggested that HIV testing be a part of a
regular medical check-up. If you
do not know your HIV status, please get tested. You can be tested confidentially or anonymously. Testing confidentially means that only
you and your health care provider will know your name and test result. In the United States and many other
countries, there are strong laws that protect the confidentiality of
information between the health care provider and their patients. If you are concerned about
confidentiality, in many places you can test anonymously. In anonymous testing, you do not
disclose your name. You can
contact your local health department for testing and if they do not offer it
onsite, they will direct you to the nearest location.
If you are HIV positive, you can help make sure that
HIV stops with you. Many of my
patients have told me they do not feel safe telling their partners their HIV
status because they are afraid of being rejected. I can only imagine what it would be like to experience that
fear. When you know your HIV status but donÕt disclose it, you may be carrying
a burden. You have the chance to set that burden down. By taking a stand to
disclose your status to every potential partner, you create a freedom of choice
that did not previously exist. You
may be saying to yourself, ÒI was not given that freedom of choice when I
contracted HIV, why should I give that freedom to someone else?Ó You may not have had the knowledge at
the time you contracted HIV. However, you now have the power to make sure that
HIV stops with you. That may be
the only power you feel like you have over your life at this time, and it is a
good place to start. Make the
decision today to make HIV stop with you.
In some places, newly diagnosed HIV positive people can
voluntarily provide the names and contact details of their previous sexual
partners to local public health services.
The list of partners includes both those who may have infected you and
those you may have exposed to HIV.
This notification enables the partners to receive counseling and testing
for HIV. Participation in such programs is voluntary, and you can make the
decision after you get your test results. You will never be required to provide
the names of past sexual partners if you donÕt want to.
People often ask whether there are any increased risks
for two HIV infected people having unprotected sex or sharing needles. This has been called serosorting: HIV
positive individuals having HIV positive sexual partners instead of HIV
negative partners in order to prevent further spread of HIV. The answer is not very popular and
sometimes not very well received. Serosorting
is intended to prevent HIV negative individuals from contracting HIV. While the
intention of serosorting may be good, this practice is not completely safe. There are many strains of the HIV virus.
One person may be carrying a different strain of HIV than their partner. In addition, over time the HIV virus
has been exposed to a number of different medications and has developed
resistance. It has mutated or changed its shape so that those medications and
possibly others in the same class or group are no longer effective.
When two HIV positive individuals exchange body fluids
through unprotected sex or needle sharing, they may acquire each otherÕs
virus. Being infected with more
than one strain of HIV is called superinfection. Since this is not a common occurrence, some people feel there is not enough
evidence to warrant using condoms, even if both partners are HIV positive. Nonetheless, if you acquire another
strain of HIV through a risky behavior, the harmful effects can be serious. Physicians have seen the effects of
superinfection on a patientÕs CD4 count.
For example, one patientÕs CD4 count had been stable for many many years.
After an unprotected sexual encounter with another man in a foreign country, he
developed a significant drop in his CD4 count and it never recovered.
If you are on antiretroviral medications, take them at
the dosages and on the schedule prescribed by your physician. When you take your medications as
prescribed, you accomplish two things.
First, you reduce the risk that HIV will develop resistance to the medications. Second, you reduce the amount of virus
in your body, called your viral load, hopefully to a nondetectable level. A lower viral load decreases your
chance of transmitting HIV. Taking your medications as prescribed, however, is
no substitute for safer sexual practices such as using condoms correctly every
time.
Make sure that you and your partner are healthy and do
not have other sexually transmitted diseases. Having other sexually transmitted diseases when you are
having unprotected sex increases the risk of both transmitting and of
contracting HIV. Being free of other sexually transmitted diseases, however, is
no substitute for safer sexual practices. Barriers such as condoms and dental
dams are always a necessary part of safer sex.
No matter who you are, you are a valuable individual,
and your life matters as do the lives of those in your community. Take care of
yourself and those around you. Make healthy choices that eliminate or reduce
your risk of contracting HIV.
For AIDSvideos.org,
this is [PRESENTER NAME].
Script by Becky
Kuhn, M.D. of Global Lifeworks and Eric Krock of AIDSvideos.org.
This script was reviewed for
accuracy and approved by Becky Kuhn, M.D. on July 30, 2011.