HIV/Aids

An introduction to disease prevention
Because there is no cure or vaccine for HIV-infection yet, prevention by not allowing the virus to get into the body in the first place, is the only answer.

Safer sex – the female condom
The female condom is a strong, soft sheath that is inserted into the vagina before sexual intercourse. It is pouch-shaped and about the same length as the male condom, but wider. The female condom has two plastic rings: a loose ring at the closed end that helps to insert the condom and that keeps it in place during sex, and a larger ring at the open end, which remains outside the vagina and spreads over the woman’s external genitalia.

Factors affecting safer sex choices
Choosing to have safer sex is a decision many people have to make. What are the factors influencing this important choice?

Preventing Mother-to-Baby transmission
If you are pregnant and HIV infected, there are three stages during which the baby can become infected.

Blood costs up by 10%
No racial profiling is to be used any more by blood transfusion services in South Africa – but will the state be picking up the resulting 10% cost increase?

The gels that may stop HIV
The development of microbicides is being hailed by some as a breakthrough in the fight against HIV and Aids. But how do these gels actually work?

Why HIV is still winning
New writings on the Aids pandemic suggest a solution is mostly a matter of using the tools we already have

Safer sex - the male condom
The consistent and correct use of latex condoms is one of the most effective ways for combating the spread of HIV. Laboratory tests have shown that the virus cannot pass through latex condoms (the holes or pores in the latex condom is smaller than the virus!). This means that the virus stays inside the condom after ejaculation and cannot enter the partner's body.

General safer sex rules
Although abstinence and condoms are the best way of preventing HIV/Aids, there are a lot of general safer sex rules that one should follow.

Bio-medical control
Apart from sexual behavioural change and prevention many bio-medical methods are used.

You've done it. What now?
Sometimes post exposure prophylaxis is requested when a person has had risky sexual exposure, such as unprotected intercourse with a sex worker or a “one-night-stand”.

Project Accept
Social science constantly seeks new ways to change sexual behaviour to prevent HIV/AIDS. One proven method is to increase the uptake of voluntary counselling and testing.

How a foreskin ups HIV risk
One of the most effective weapons against HIV/Aids is in fact 4 300 years old. Circumcision has become a hot topic in the field of HIV prevention.

It-won't-happen-to-me syndrome
They think they're safe travelling in life's first class, but when the plane crashes, there's no discrimination.