Community Based Strategic Plan to Curb Spread of HIV-AIDS
Curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS is a human rights issue. A commitment to solidarity, hope and compassion promotes comprehensive campaign as for HIV/AIDS prevention. It may result in a holistic effort to strengthen community based network through advocacy, capacity building and behavioral change communication (BCC). Having no minimal amenities, community people are led to vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS enormously. They are mostly disadvantaged due to having no access to basic rights. If there is any community based common plan in support of the local response to HIV epidemic the reasons of vulnerability may be removed gradually and effectively.
Community based strategic plan to address HIV/AIDS should be outlined to prevent escalation of epidemic through action research in ways that recognize human rights and self-respect. In this aspect, it is greatly essential to organize social mobilization and accelerate support form local stakeholders and development partners involved in the community based response to HIV. There is no doubt that community based approach is a fundamental mechanism to stimulate the local contribution to deal with HIV/AIDS. To gather maximum support for community based efforts on HIV/AIDS, at first programs have to emphasize on coming in close contact with the local people. This is the effective means to be familiar with the values and perception of local people. Then they will be made to understand and perform the desired responsibility in response to HIV/AIDS.
Community based strategic plan encompassing local expertise and constructive commitment should be initiated to subvert the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the light of national HIV policy framework and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It would allow a profound and greater understanding of the nature of epidemic, its spread and eventuality. Read the rest of this entry »
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Living With HIV-AIDS – Important General Information For a Better Quality of Life
HIV/AIDS is an Immune System Disorder in which the body’s ability to defend itself against infections, is greatly diminished. HIV is spread primarily through sexual or blood-to-blood contact. To put this simply, in layman’s terms, the HIV virus enters the bloodstream and attaches itself to the service of a white blood cell (the CD4 cell’s receptors). The virus then changes its genetic information into that of the white blood cell. The virus cannot be recognized by other white blood cells and is, over time, able to replicate itself into hundreds of HIV viruses. When the HIV virus has used the cellular material of the white blood cell, this breaks open and the new virus can, and does, spread through the bloodstream.
A person infected with HIV can go through four stages of the disease:
1. Primary HIV infection stage
2. A symptomatic latent phase
3. Minor symptomatic phase
4. Major symptomatic phase
5. AIDS defining conditions; the severe symptomatic stage.
Symptoms of Stage 1 are:
• Sore throat, headache, mild fever, fatigue, muscle and joint pains, swelling of the lymph nodes, rash, and mouth ulcerations.
The CD4 cell count is approx. 800-1200 cells/mm3.
Symptoms of Stage 2 are:
• No symptoms occur as this is the latent stage.
The CD4 cell count is between 500 and 800 cells
Symptoms of Stage 3 are: Read the rest of this entry »
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HIV Symptoms in Men and Women
HIV is a type of virus that attacks and weakens the immune cells of its victim. If left unattended, it can develop to AIDS. HIV is normally found within the blood and to other forms of bodily fluid such as vaginal fluids and semen. The virus cannot survive for that long outside ones body, thus to be transmitted with HIV one will need to have the infected persons body fluid inside his/her body. It can enter through inside the body by means of contact within the bloodstream or through the delicate types of mucous membranes, like the inside of the rectum, urethra or vagina.
The initial signs of HIV vary in both males and females. Most of the time, the males will experience fever and mild to moderate periodic headaches. These kinds of headaches do not differ much from the headaches we normally experience in our daily lives. A man may start to observe some inflammation or swelling in a number of lymph glands in his body. A gland in his groin, neck or armpit will begin to swell and become firm and raised. This swelling does not normally bring any type of discomfort or pain to the gland and could be mistaken with other types of conditions.
HIV symptoms in men can also display dramatic changes in their stamina or energy level. They may experience unexplainable fatigue or tiredness. Physical exercise can have a different effect on them and could be mistaken as a result of stress from work.
Historically, more men are infected with HIV than women yet more women today are accounted for the new HIV cases and may catch up or even surpass the men in the near future. AIDS is just a few cases behind heart disease and cancer as the main killer conditions of women. The hardest hit of the infection are the African-American women. Women of the younger generation are the ones more prone to the infection as compared to their older counterparts. It usually takes years before HIV symptoms in women would start manifesting. Read the rest of this entry »
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