Healthy Living dispels myths about HIV/AIDS
It’s a disease that is prevalent in Belize and statistics show the number of persons infected on an upward trend. But there are many myths about this virus and Healthy Living this week dispels some of the most common fallacies.
Marleni Cuellar, Reporting
It is estimated that worldwide as many as thirty-three point two million people are infected with HIV. It is a peculiar disease that is preventable, treatable, but not curable. Most in Belize have some understanding of HIV and AIDs. But coupled with the wealth of information available, are some common misconceptions that continue to foster misinformation within our society.
Tashera Swift is an HIV/AIDS educator for the Belize Red Cross. She coordinates a peer education program specifically designed to educate young people on the facts about HIV and Aids.
Tashera Swift, Belize Red Cross, TWC Program
“The Together We can Program is the Red Cross, HIV, and STI peer education program where we provide HIV prevention awareness with young people between the ages of ten to twenty-four. Basically, we train young persons as peer educators in the hope that after being trained they’ll go out into their communities among their peers and pass on the information that they’ve learned in the training through interactive sessions.”
Tashera recently earned the Youth Activist Award for her work through T.W.C. She shares with us some of the common myths and misconceptions that she encounters when educating young persons about HIV and AIDS. Dr. Paul Edwards is the Acting Central Health Region Manager, he along with Tashera help us to dispel these myths by providing the facts.
Tashera Swift
“Some of the common misconceptions that young people tend to have when it comes to contracting HIV. There’s the myth that if a boy has sex with a girl who is a virgin and say the young man is HIV positive, then in having sex with a virgin he’d be cured of the virus.”
Dr. Paul Edwards, Acting Central Health Region Manager
“I’d want to start from the last part. There is absolutely no cure for HIV/AIDS at the present moment and therefore, it is definitely a myth. It is something that is false.”
Tashera Swift
“Another myth that we encountered in the trainings and doing sessions with the young people has to do with how HIV is contracted. When we look at having sex most young men have the idea that if they ‘strap up’—if they use two condoms—then that protects them from contracting an STI.
In terms of the myth that we normally encounter when it comes to doubling up for added protection using; two condoms in terms of reducing ones risk of contracting HIV, that myth is false. In using two latex condoms together at the same time there’s a lot of friction involved when you’re having sex and two rubbers rubbing against each other with the friction the condoms will burst and making the whole point of using a condom ineffective. Using one latex condom with a water based lubricant in order to protect yourself an your partner from exchange of body fluids and the transmission of an STI. So in using two condoms it just increases the risk of the condom breaking and risk of transmission of HIV or a STI or even an unplanned pregnancy.”
“Another myth that we found or another reason as to why young men are not using condoms is the fact that they find that the condoms are too tight and there’s no size for them. We always get young men who say well miss I try using a condom but there just no condom out there that could fit me. That myth, sad to say guys, is false. Any condom, once used correctly and consistently fits any size. It’s just a matter of making sure that you place the condom on properly. And in our condom demonstrations what we normally do, we get a condom and put the condom, make a fist and roll the condom unto our hands and for the most part we have a lot of guys who are left with their mouths open in awe and when asked now in terms of “what do you think? Is there a condom that can fit you?” I usually get a very hushed audience.”
Marleni Cuellar
“So a condom can fit everybody?”
Tashera Swift
“Yes, it can fit everybody so there’s no reason to say that I won’t use one because there is none that can fit me or it would be too tight. They’re one size fits all.”
“Another myth is that all persons who are HIV positive would show symptoms that they are in fact living with the virus or if they have aids and some of the symptoms we would normally hear is ‘oh miss deh have rashes on their skin’. So they’re all under the impression that if you are HIV positive everybody would know.”
Dr. Paul Edwards
“Definitely for HIV there are no characteristic symptoms associated with HIV as compared to someone who has AIDS. When you talk about AIDS you’re talking about the weight loss, more than ten percent of your base line, body weight. You’re talking about diarrhea, more than two times a day for more than thirty days. You talk about consistent fever, more than thirty days. You talk about the skin lesions, you talk about the fungal infections, you talk about the adenopathy or the swelling of lymph nodes. But that is characteristic of AIDS. When you talk about HIV, there isn’t any symptom as if to say, because you have this, clearly you’re HIV positive.”
Tashera Swift
“Another myth when we look at how HIV is transmitted is the misconception that if two persons are HIV positive and they’re in a relationship and having unprotected sex, then that its okay for them to do so because they are already HIV positive so there’s no additional risk that they need to take into consideration.”
Dr. Paul Edwards
“No, it’s not okay because we can say there are different subtypes of the virus and there are many different kinds. If you have one and the other person doesn’t have and you have sexual activity, you can pass that one you have to the other person. So that person can acquire a different subtype. So it is not recommended for two persons who are HIV positive to have sexual activity without protection.”
Tashera Swift
“Another myth that’s still prevalent in Belize is the whole issue that having HIV is a death sentence. Finding out your results means that you will die.”
Dr. Paul Edwards
“Certainly not; not today. And especially in Belize, since the year 2003 we’ve been offering Anti retrovirals since 2003. But we must remember that HIV/AIDS is now a chronic disease just like we’ve spoken about diabetes and hypertension, we said as well, that there is not a cure. So knowing your status early, taking your medication at the appropriate time and consistently, as indicated by your doctor, it has been prove that you can live ten, fifteen years more just like diabetes, just like hypertension; no cure, medications are there and with proper nutrition, sleeping well, no drinking, no partying, good hygiene. Those are other factors that contribute to create synergy and works along with medication and you can live many, many, many more productive years. So it’s not a death sentence.”
The misconceptions about HIV and AIDS are many; if you do not get your facts clear you may engage in risky behaviour that may lessen your protection against getting infected or it may foster the stigma and discrimination present in our society. Factual information on HIV and AIDS is easily accessible at local NGO’s, the National Aids Commission and, with technology, on the internet. Get your facts right so that you can be able to protect yourself.
