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World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day poster showing a person called Ant, who has been living with HIV for 15 years. wearing a pink tshirt with a red ribbon on it. Beside them is the text "I Rock the ribbon to commemorate, to celebrate and to show there's more to do"

What is it?

World AIDS Day happens annually on 1st December and is an opportunity to do the following:

  • Unite people worldwide in the fight against HIV.
  • Show support for people living with HIV.
  • Commemorate those who have died from Aids-related illnesses.

Why is it important?

World AIDS Day is important as it reminds ourselves and government that HIV has not gone away.

  • In the UK alone there are over 100,000 people living with HIV. This is just part of the estimated 38 million people who have the virus worldwide.
  • More than 35 million people have died from HIV or AIDS related illnesses since the virus was first identified in 1984 - that’s just 38 years!
  • Although HIV is now a preventable and treatable condition, there is still widespread misinformation, stigma, and discrimination around the virus and people living with it.

What can you do on World Aids Day?

Get tested:

  • Although HIV has long been branded as a ‘gay virus’, anyone who is sexually active can get it (just like many other STIs). It’s important to get tested regularly.
  • At home HIV tests are available through the post from NHS sexual health clinics, and charity testing services (such as the Terrence Higgins Trust). They’re confidential and don’t normally go through your GP. You can order one by finding your local service here: https://test.tht.org.uk/finder or by searching on the https://www.sh.uk/ website.

Wear/set your Slack status to the red ribbon

If you wish to show your solidarity with the millions of people living with HIV, on or leading up to Thursday 1st December, you can:

  • Wear a red ribbon (available from the World Aids Day website).
  • Set your Slack status to the red ribbon.

Consider donating to a charity that helps to support those who has the virus and research into the treatment/prevention of it.
Such as:

Preventative treatment for HIV

Many articles mention that HIV is now a preventable virus without actually mentioning some of the ways that this is now case.
So here’s some information about some of the preventative treatments you can access in the UK: PrEP and PEP…

PrEP - Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

  • This is a drug that is taken by HIV negative people before and after sex that reduces the risk of getting HIV.
  • PrEP usually comes in the form of a tablet which contains tenofovir and emtricitabine (drugs commonly used to treat HIV).
  • By having enough PrEP in your system, you can block the HIV virus if it gets into your body.
  • PrEP is available on the NHS from all sexual health services across the UK for people who are at ‘high risk’ of HIV infection – for example, those whose partner is HIV positive.
  • Some services are starting to offer PrEP as an injection and/or implant. PrEP vaginal implants are also being developed.

PEP - Post-Exposure Prophylaxis for HIV

  • This is a treatment that can stop an HIV infection after the virus has entered a person’s body.
  • It usually comes in the form of a combination of HIV drugs that must be taken within 72 hours of exposure.
  • PEP is not a ‘morning after pill’ for HIV, and it’s not guaranteed to work. It’s meant as an emergency measure (such as if a condom fails during sex).
  • The treatment is available on the NHS, but is only given to people who meet guidelines about its use.
  • You can get PEP from all NHS sexual health services. Or, if out-of-hours (such as a weekend), speak to NHS 111.

Both of these treatments have been important medical breakthroughs over the past few decades. However, they still aren’t a replacement for using condoms and testing regularly, especially as they only protect from HIV and not any other STIs.

HIV and AIDS documentaries

Finally, If you want to learn more about HIV and AIDS and the impact that they have had across the UK and the world, there is plenty of good documentaries available online to watch.

In particular, AIDS: The Unheard Tapes on BBC iPlayer is a good 3 part series that tells the stories of real people living with HIV and those who have died from AIDS-related illnesses using audio recordings from the British Library archives.

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