Slum Doctor Programme

– Know The Facts About HIV/AIDS –

Knowledge is a critical aspect of preventing the spread of HIV. We want to use this blog to talk about what students in this community want to know about HIV/AIDS.

Your questions can be anonymous and one of our HIV/AIDS educators will provide an accurate answer quickly. There are no rules — You have questions and we want to answer those questions truthfully and honestly. We are NOT experts on these issues but we will find information from knowledgeable people and share those findings with you.

Young people account for over half of HIV infections worldwide and a recent study reports that 1 in 4 teenage girls (ages 14-19) have an STI. The youth of the world need to start talking in order to bring about change!

The Basics:

Many of you already know this information but others simply don’t! In fact, some people in this country still think you can get HIV from sharing a drink of water, sitting on a toilet seat or from kissing – all of which does not happen. With that said, the facts.

Global HIV/AIDS Statistics

• An estimated 33.2 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.
• 22.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa
• Although Africa only comprises 10% of the world’s population, it is home to 70% of those living with HIV/AIDS.
• Over 1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV/AIDS.
• 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS.
• More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since the 1980s.

HIV/AIDS Transmission

The most common ways people contract HIV is through the following:

1. Having Unsafe Sex – This is how the vast majority of people are infected worldwide. Nearly 85% of people contract HIV by having unprotected sex.

2. Transmission Through Blood – Most often this involves IV drug users who get HIV by sharing contaminated needles.

3. Through Mother to Child Transmission – An HIV positive mother can pass the virus onto her child in the womb, during childbirth or while breastfeeding.

Prevention

Obviously the only way to be completely safe is to abstain from sex entirely. But if you are going to have sex, use a condom every time! This will dramatically reduce your chances of contracting HIV or other STIs.

Who Has It?

33 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS. About 70% (or 22.5 million) of these infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The HIV virus does not discriminate however. People of all ages, races, religions and sexual orientations are living with HIV/AIDS. Over 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV/AIDS and about 130 people in Whatcom County have HIV/AIDS.

Is There A Cure?

There is not a cure but there is treatment available which drastically lengthens the lives of those living with HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral therapy slows the progression of HIV to AIDS and allows people to live relatively healthy lives for many years. This medication however is expensive and unavailable to many people in much of the world. Only 28% of people in developing countries (impoverished nations) are getting this medication which they desperately need.

Getting Tested?

In Whatcom County, you can go to the Whatcom County Health Department which is located at 1500 N. State St. You must be older than 14 in order to be tested. The first appointment, which will involve getting blood drawn, will take about 45 minutes and the second follow-up will last 15 minutes and you will receive your test results. It can take up to 2 weeks to get your results.

Getting Involved

There are so many things you can do if you would like to get more involved. Action does not necessarily mean getting a huge group of people united – individuals can make a big difference on their own or with a few others. Here are some ideas:

1. Raise Awareness. Talk to your friends and family about HIV/AIDS. Ask questions and find accurate information about the AIDS crisis. Share the information that you are learning.

2. Volunteer with a local organization. Slum Doctor Programme, Evergreen AIDS Foundation and Sean Humphrey House are local non-profits that provide services for individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

3. Fundraise. Raise money – by having a bake sale, benefit concert, movie screening – and give the proceeds to Slum Doctor Programme or another AIDS organization.

4. Be a Pen Pal. We have just started a pen pal project that would allow middle and high school girls to write letters to girls at our Ombogo school in Kenya. This would be a great opportunity to learn about a different culture and make a new friend. If you’re interested, email me for more information at paige@slumdoctor.org.

To see more ways you can get involved look at the action ideas listed on our Global AIDS Curriculum page.

Student Questions

Last year we presented our Global HIV/AIDS Curriculum to students at Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus In Issaquah. We asked them to write down the questions they have about the AIDS crisis. I would like to answer them here. Unfortunately, there is not enough room to answer every question, so I have put them into categories and will do my best to discuss the most common topics. These questions are amazing and may answer some of your own questions! If you have a question that I do not address, feel free to post it here.

Topics:

What does AIDS do to your body?

AIDS is a medical condition that people develop because HIV has damaged their natural immune defenses that fight against diseases.

A damaged immune system is not only more vulnerable to HIV, but also to the attacks of other infections. A person with AIDS can become sick from illnesses that their body normally would have been able to fight off.

As time goes by, a person who has been infected with HIV is likely to become ill more often until, usually several years after infection, they become ill with one of a number of particularly severe illnesses. It is at this point that they are said to have AIDS. Eventually, their immune system is so weak they can not combat these illnesses.

How long does it take for HIV to become AIDS?

Without drug treatment, HIV usually progresses to AIDS in an average of ten years. This average though is based on a person with a reasonable diet. Someone who is malnourished may well progress to AIDS and death more rapidly.

How did humans get HIV in the first place? Where did it come from?

It has been known for a while that certain viruses can cross between species. Most scientists agree that this is what happened with HIV. The most common theory about how this happened is that people hunting chimpanzees got their blood into cuts or wounds on the hunter. Normally, the person’s body would have fought off the virus but sometimes it mutated and became HIV. The virus seems to have originated in Africa.

The earliest known instance of HIV was in 1959. Using a plasma sample, scientists discovered that a man living in the Democratic Republic of Congo was living with HIV in the late 50s. This leads people to think that the virus has been around since the 1940s or early 1950s. Since the first cases were rare and the symptoms of AIDS vary greatly, it took many years to identify and name the virus.

Why was AIDS first discovered in NYC and California?

In 1981 a number of young gay men in New York and California began developing rare illnesses that usually only affect older people. Doctors and scientists agreed that this was a new mysterious disease. By the end of that year, IV drug users and hemophiliacs were also becoming ill with this new disease. This was not only in the U.S. though. Beginning in 1982, there were cases reported throughout Europe. And in 1982, doctors in Uganda began noticing a fatal new wasting disease that they called “slim.”

Although the first cases of AIDS were identified in the United States — scientists and doctors agree that by the 1980s there were people on at least 5 continents (North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia) that were being affected by the virus.

Picture: ACT UP, or the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power, was formed in 1987 in New York City to address the AIDS crisis. The organization was one of the first of its kind and used powerful images and demonstrations to get the attention of the public and government officials. Here ACT UP members hold signs that say “Silence = Death.”

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What is AIDS treatment?

Antiretroviral medication is the most common treatment for HIV/AIDS. It is not a cure, but it can stop people from becoming ill for many years. The treatment consists of a combination of drugs that have to be taken every day for the rest of someone’s life. The drugs slow down the replication of HIV within the body.

However the drugs cannot stop the replication completely, and so some HIV is able to survive despite ongoing HIV treatment. Some strains of HIV are resistant to the drugs and this causes people to become sick again. This is the main reason why HIV medication fails. The treatment regime must change if this happens.

For more treatment information go to: http://www.avert.org/hivtreatment.htm

PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, was started in 2003 by President Bush and gave 15 billion dollars over five years to AIDS relief. The majority of this money goes to helping those in Africa. Recently Congress proposed that PEPFAR spending be increased to 50 billion over 5 years. This has been halted however, as members of the U.S. government debate whether that amount is too high. To read more about PEPFAR go to: http://www.avert.org/pepfar.htm

Is there a cure?

There is no cure for HIV/AIDS. Curing AIDS is generally taken to mean clearing the body of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The virus makes new copies of itself by inserting its genetic code into human cells. Unfortunately, not all infected cells behave the same way. A cure for AIDS must somehow remove every single one of the infected cells.

There are many doctors and scientists working on a cure or a vaccine against HIV but so far all of them have failed. To read more about past attempts at finding a cure go to: http://www.avert.org/cure-for-aids.htm.

Why is AIDS affecting Africa more than other parts of the world?

No one really knows the full answer to this question. However we do know there are many factors that influence the rate at which HIV is transmitted. Such factors that may contribute to high rates of HIV include: poverty, gender inequality, sexual violence, other sexually transmitted infections (which facilitate HIV transmission), high mobility and ineffective leadership.

You can learn more about AIDS in Africa by going to: http://www.avert.org/aids-africa-questions-1.htm#q5

What was the single most powerful moment for you while creating the film?

One of our talented volunteers, Lisa Spicer, has created several films that document the projects Slum Doctor Programme is involved with in Africa. We show one of those documentary shorts during our Global HIV/AIDS presentation. I thought that this question should be answered by Lisa herself. This is her reply…

“When I am working with people in cultures other than my own, I pay attention to the give-and-take — if I am “taking” pictures, I will also give pictures. While visiting the girls at Ombogo, there were about 12 who were keenly interested in the video camera. While on a field trip, we stopped in the small town of Rodi. All the girls were in their school uniforms, and my travel companions and I were obviously not locals, so we stood out as we filed off the bus. Then, something amazing happened. I handed the video camera to one of the girls. Standing behind her, I reached along her arms to show her how to work the camera controls. I could see what she was recording, and then stepped back and let her shoot the camera. This was a powerful moment because I could feel her excitement being in control of the camera and seeing her footage live in the viewfinder. The girls interested in video took turns with the camera, and I worked with each one in this way. Some of their footage is good and it’s in the movie, Ombogo Girl.

Lisa with students at Ombogo

Later, when it was time for me to return home, the girls had a good-bye moment for me at an assembly. One of the girls from the video session stood beside me and spoke to all her peers: “I thank Lisa for coming here and showing us how to use the video camera. Before, I always thought video was just for Americans. Now I know it’s for me, too!” This remains a powerful moment for me because the girls let me know that by sharing my tools, they were empowered. And ultimately, that is my highest aspiration.”

To watch one of SDP’s short films, go to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezejy1GCPtY

Thank you to everyone at Cascade Pacific Freshman Campus. You all asked such great questions! If you do not see your question answered here and want it to be, please add a comment. Thanks again.

That is all I have for now. Please write us with your questions in the comment section below. If you think that something needs to be included with this information, tell me. Thanks all.