HIV prevention strategies  


According to the World Health Organization, about 36.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2017, with 3 million people becoming newly infected during that year alone. Even more disturbing is that WHO estimates that one in seven people who have HIV don’t even know it. If this applies to you or someone you love, then you need to learn more about HIV prevention strategies—here are several of the most effective ones everyone should know.

 

Antiretroviral Treatment (ART)

Getting infected with HIV doesn’t mean that you have to suffer a life of illness, but it is an ongoing struggle. People living with HIV can take antiretroviral drugs (medicines) every day that can help them live longer and healthier lives.

 

The Basics of Safer Sex

Safer sex is a method of reducing one’s risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) by making changes to sexual behaviors that increase protection, such as using latex condoms. These methods provide a physical barrier between one partner’s bodily fluids and another partner’s mucous membranes, which can be more susceptible to infection.

 

Safer Sex Tips For Women

  1.  Use condoms correctly and every time you have sex, whether it’s vaginal, anal, or oral sex.
  2.  Know your partner’s HIV status. 
  3. Get tested regularly for STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea, which can cause pelvic inflammatory disease that may put you at a higher risk of getting HIV if exposed to someone who has it or whose status is unknown. 

Safer Sex Tips For Men

Here are some great tips to follow to make sex safer and healthier: 

  1.  Limit your number of sexual partners. 
  2. Be monogamous with one partner who is HIV-negative (or has an undetectable viral load) and not infected with any other sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, or herpes, which can increase your risk of becoming infected with HIV if exposed through sex. 

 


Overview of HIV Prevention Methods

  1.  Abstinence
  2. Being in a monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner 
  3. Voluntary counseling and testing (VCT)  
  4. Post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis)
  5. Safer sex 
  6.  Condoms 
  7. Treatment as prevention 
  8.  Partner reduction 
  9.  Behavioral interventions 
  10.  Microbicides 
  11.  Vaccines 
  12.  Male circumcision 
  13.  Surgical male circumcision 
  14.  Vasectomy 
  15.  Medical male circumcision 
  16. Vaginal microbicides 
  17. Suppressive antiretroviral therapy 
  18.  Antiretroviral therapy