Today Dec 1st is World AIDS day. I am very passionate about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention but i have not actively done anything about it, all that is about to change because i am going to work it into something i have to do for school anyway. There are way too many people living with this very preventable disease and the infection rate keeps rising. WHY?
Are people still burying their heads in the sand and thinking it will never happen to them? I don't understand. When i hear about unplanned pregnancies by both celebrities and regular people, i shudder because the first thought that comes to my head is, how can people be having unprotected sex in this day and age of HIV/AIDS.
I remember listening to this recording that was going around facebook of one bini girl (no offense to bini girls out there, i am a proud Edo chic myself. Benin City, born, bred and buttered :) talking to this igbo dude on the phone. The dude is supposed to be her boyfriend and he was saying since she was coming over, he will get condoms. The chic gets very upset and asks him who he is going to use the condom with. She goes on to say she only uses condoms with her customers and how can he be saying he wants to use a condom with her. She said that she doesn't "hear it" (her words not mine) when she uses a condom. The guy asks her what if she gets pregnant and she says "dem no dey comot am?" There was a whole lot to that conversation that is irrelevant to this post, but the whole time, my mouth was hanging wide open. I couldn't believe my ears. No wonder the infection rates keep rising. She refuses to use a condom because she doesn't feel "it", it means the guy doesn't like her if they use it and it is only used with customers. Wowzers!
As far as i am concerned, sex without protection should not exist in anyone's vocabulary, unless you are married and trying to have kids. Even if you are married, you might still want to consider using protection if you know or suspect your partner is a philandering idiot. Don't get me started on the number of women who have been infected by this disease (and other STI's) by their unfaithful husbands, especially in Africa. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in other countries because it does, but i know we are especially guilty of having women who are not as empowered as they ought to. It's hard to imagine some rural woman insisting her husband use a condom when she is afraid to talk back to him in the first place. Let not pretend these things don't exist because they do. There's a whole lot more to that, but i won't go into it right now.
There is surprisingly still a lot of misconceptions and lack of knowledge about HIV/AIDS. One of the most recent ones i read somewhere was when someone said the HIV virus can be "awaken" if it's outside a host once it comes in contact with blood. This was said in response to someone saying the virus doesn't survive outside a host. Once it's outside a host and it's dead, it can not be re-activated. Read more about that HERE
I think a lot of grassroots education still needs to be done. People need to understand the importance of using protection and getting tested. Also, people need to know that's there's life after testing HIV positive.
So people get tested and always use protection. Is the sex really worth getting HIV for? Seriously? Don't be stupid about trusting your partners also. Shine your eyes.
You can read the post i wrote sometime last year about a 20 year old guy who just found out he was HIV positive here.
To learn more visit worldaidsday.org
