Prevention

• Use latex condoms.
• Don't have sex until marriage.
• Don't use drugs or alcohol. Be careful to protect cuts. (Have no blood contact.) Be careful when helping those that are bleeding.
• Do not share drug equipment.

Ways To Transmit: 4 ways

• Sexual contact; vaginal, anal, or oral sex with someone who is infected.
• IV Drug Use: sharing needles.
• Pregnancy - mother to baby - even breast milk.
• Blood transfusions: rare now. (Arthur Ashe)

If we ask:

Who is transmitting this disease at a fastest and greatest rate?... The answer is men via heterosexual contact. Can a woman give the disease to a man? Yes. But the rate of this type of transmission is low to medium.

How do you protect yourself:

• Wait to have sex.
• If you are dating and can't wait - carry and use latex condoms.
• If he does not want to wear a condom, tell him you do not want to have sex.
• Married women - make your husband wear a condom if he is "suspect".
• Don't do drugs.
• Don't inject drugs - sharing of needles.
• Don't drink alcohol - it impairs your judgment and may lead you to unsafe sex.
• Oral sex - woman or man - use plastic food wrap.

HIV History

• AIDS stands for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome - Caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV weakens your body, making it incapable of fighting disease and infections - these diseases can eventually kill you.
• First identified in the 1970's - At that time it was felt to be a disease of homosexual men.

Remember

Unlike cancer, lupus, sickle cell... HIV/AIDS is a disease of behavior.

It is your behavior that dictates whether you put yourself in a high-risk situation.

To request an HIV educator or skit performance please email cledwards@asistersgift.org