Contest !! ||AIDS awareness
It is another wonderful day to be participating in another contest in Steemit and today I will be dropping my entry about the contest held by @khursheedanwar about AIDS awareness. So many of us have actually heard about the word AIDS but the truth is we know little about what surround it in terms of the cause, the preventive measures and the treatment. Stay tune and read below.
What Is Really AIDS
Before really diving into the section of this contest. I will like to talk briefly on what AIDS is. AIDS which stand for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is a chronic and life threatening disease which is caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). It was actually first noticed in the year 1980s. Over the years, AIDs has grown to become a deadly disease to become a manageable disease and that is due to the massive medical advancements that takes place. But nevertheless, it is still a very global health issue because it is constantly affecting millions of lives all around the world.
According to Research, HIV which is first contacted from Chimpanzees to humans as it was the foundation for the first cases of AIDS been known in the year 1981. AIDS works in a way whereby it targets the body immune systems which is the CD4+ T cells that helps to keep and sustain the immune defense. When the condition of HIV gets worse and deteriorates, it leads to a condition called AIDS.
What do you know about AIDS causes?
There are a whole lot of causes of AIDS that have been discovered over the number of years of research. I will be discussing about some of them in this section.
- Unprotected Sexual Contact
The first and popular causes of AIDs that we are all familiar with is unprotected sexual contact. As we all know, when the condition of HIV has deteriorated, it grows to AIDS. Engaging in sexual activities unprotected or without using condoms and other protection methods can actually increase the risk of HIV transmission. There are different medium during sex one can contact HIV ranging from Vagina, Anal, oral sex. The virus can actually enter through this means. In fact it has been discovered that Anal Sex have the higher risk to contact HIV.
- Sharing Needles and Syringes
There are a whole lot of people who have contacted HIV not from sexual contact but also from sharp objects. HIV can really be transmitted through blood and that can be gotten when you are sharing with an infected patient sharp objects like needles, blades, syringes and other injection tools. The infected blood can be directly affecting the user which will lead to a high risk of the transmission of the virus at the end of the day.
- Contaminated Blood Transfusions and Organ Transplants
There are some people who contact the HIV that laters lead to AIDS due to blood transfusion. Receiving blood transfusion from an infected patient can actually transmit the virus at the end of the day. Well thanks be to God for the testing protocols that have been established recently in our various hospitals which have reduced the risk of that kind of situation taking place.
- From Mother to Child (Vertical Transmission)
Even though health research has helped us to come up with a way out of this, HIV that leads to AIDS can actually be transmitted from a HIV mother to her child during pregnancy, childbirth and even breastfeeding also. But like I said earlier, thanks be to the health research for antiretroviral therapy (ART) that has helped reduce the risk of that happening.
- Lack of Access to Prevention Education and Services
The last cause of AIDS I will like to talk about will certainly be the issue of lack of access to the prevention Education and services. There are actually a whole lot of regions that have limited access to enlightment and education about HIV and AiDS. These types of people have higher risk of contacting the risk since they don't know how the virus works. Ignorance is really a deadly disease. When they don't have the awareness about the safe sex practices, and also for them to know the importance of the regular testing, this can contribute to the higher transmission rates.
What do you know about AIDS treatment?
Now that I have been able to establish the causes of AIDs, the question in many of us will be, is there any treatment for AIDS, well yes and when we talk about the treatment of AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) which is the advance stage of HIV deals with managing the virus and preventing Complications. and briefly I will be talking about the treatment measures also below.
- Antiretroviral Therapy (ART)
ART as it is fondly called is the treatment of HIV. This actually involves the HIV patient taking HIV medicines every blessed day in order to actually control the virus. ART actually works in a way whereby it helps to reduce the viral load in the blood and by doing so, this actually helps to prevent and sustain the immune system of the HIV patient. This helps to reduce the progression to AIDS.
- Management of Opportunistic Infections
There are infections called the Opportunistic infections. AIDS patients can easily be affected with other infections due to the fact that their immune system is not as healthy as others. In a bid to control this, treatment like the Prophylactic treatments and prompt therapy such as Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), tuberculosis (TB), and fungal infections are needed. This helps to reduce the mortality that can be associated with those opportunistic infections.
- Nutritional Support
Many of us might not actually consider this a as a treatment but it is really a very vital treatment measures. For people living with HIV/AIDS, they needs proper nutrition in order to be able to maintain their immune system and their health system in general. Balanced diets can go a long way in improving their health and increase energy levels for them.
- Preventive Care and Vaccinations
As we all know, one of the things that is really important for HIV/AIDS patient is their immune system. There is a need to have in place preventive measures in order to actually help protect against infections that can affect the immune system. Vaccinations for influenza, pneumococcus, and hepatitis are most of the time recommended.
What do you know about AIDS preventive measures?
Lastly in this section of this post, I will be taking about the preventive measures of AIDS.
- Consistent and Correct Use of Condoms
Even though Condoms are not 100% safe, I will say using confoms correcting when you are having sexual encounters helps to reduce the risk of HIV transmission. Condoms usually act as a barrier that helps to prevent the exchange of fluids like semen, blood and even vaginal fluids that might want to contain the virus.
- Regular HIV Testing and Counseling
A lot of us are always guilty of not going for constant medical check-up. Regular testing for HIV is really crucial so as to know the early detection and quick treatment of the HIV before it progresses to AIDS. Counselling also helps to do a great job I enlighting people to understand their HIV status. It is really needed for people to know their HIV status.
- Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT).
In my previous section, I was actually talking about the way HIV can be contacted through mother to child. Well in some cases, HIV patients women who are pregnant can actually take ART during their pregnancy, childbirth or even breastfeeding period so as to reduce the risk of actually transmitting the virus to their children. By doing so, it is possible that the child will not have the virus.
- Safe Blood Transfusions and Medical Practices.
Thanks be to the medical practitioners for the advance testing protocols. Making sure that every blood and blood products are properly tested for HIV before transfusion is very important as this can also help in preventing the HIV transmission in the healthcare settings.
I will like to stop here and continue in my next post. I strongly believe it is needed that we work together as one to keep our society in a safer place to be so that we will live the life we need to live for our society and this will help to sustain our health in a good shape it should be.
I invite @lovelystar , @newekemini5 and @okere-blessing to participate in this contest.
https://twitter.com/adenijiadeshin7/status/1791418400033399079?t=YmtstqZSv4Qe_1IrBHWcgg&s=19
Upvoted. Thank You for sending some of your rewards to @null. It will make Steem stronger.
The truth is that it is a good informative post with respect to AIDS, it is very detailed and explained. This is useful because to be well informed about a disease is important to know how to treat it, what to do and what not to do.
Greetings