Aids Walk – Aids Treatment Information

Sexual awareness in today’s generation of women starts early. Women’s body is spectacularly different with a men’s body, women’s body develop much faster than that of men. In a women’s body, her reproductive system can capacitate itself of bearing a child as early as she gets her first menstrual period, thus making her more exposed to sexual indulgence and making her exposed on STDs as well.

STD symptoms in women are hard to detect because her genitals are not as exposed as the male, thus making symptoms less likely to be seen and noticed. More than often, because of the common symptoms, the symptoms of STD in women is commonly mistaken to be another kind if disease; a Chlamydia infection can be mistaken for a yeast infection and a red pimple like could be mistaken as a bump wherein it could be a symptom of syphilis! This makes women more prone to untreated STD and leaving them to suffer more complicated effects of STD.

Every single sexually active women sis strongly advised to subject themselves to regular STD testing as symptoms are less likely to be noticed in women and the effects of STD especially when left untreated is considerably more devastating. Though STDs are commonly unnoticed, it can be helped with the right information and knowledge on its symptoms and signs upon infection.

Syphilis is a STD that appears as a Chancre around the vagina or the rectum. A chancre is a painless sore that is often mistaken to be a bump and commonly self-treated with over the counter remedies. In the 10th to the 90th day of infection, chancres will start to appear in the genital area and this can last for 3 to 6 weeks but it can also heal by itself. If syphilis is unnoticed and untreated on its first appearance it will now move on the second stage wherein after some time, it will re occur and attack again causing rashes all over the body of the infected. The palms of the hand and bottom of the feet will be filled with red spots and will be accompanied with fever, sore throat, swollen lymph glands, hair loss, weight loss, fatigue, and muscle pain. If the syphilis infection is still left untreated in this stage it will now develop into the latent stage and infest on internal organs causing irreversible damages that can lead to paralysis, loss of muscle coordination, blindness, and even death.

The number of infected women is greater than those of men and the effect of the disease had greater effects in women as well. Untreated and complicated situations of STD in women cam manifest as burning sensation while urinating, pain during sexual intercourse, and abnormal vaginal discharges but it can also cause damage in the reproductive system, causing inflammation in the fallopian tube and cervix and disowning infected women her chance to bear a child. It is best for sexually active women to have yourself tested regularly to avoid such complications.

STD Symptoms in women – know these symptoms, be vigilant, and get tested.

Nowadays medical journals, magazines and newspapers are filled with issues concerning sexually transmitted infections. But the most threatening of them all, is HIV AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus- acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The apprehensions are that, it won’t take long before this disease transforms into a pandemic.

HIV AIDS, as soon as it infects the body, you can be rest assured, has no cure. Yes, there are some anti retro viral injections and other medication which can stop the quick spread of the germs in the body. These medicines can help the victim to lead a normal life for some time, but then, there is no escape from the clutches of HIV AIDS permanently. So, as a responsible citizen, you have to focus on the complete eradication of the disease, by preventing it from spreading from one person to another. Blood transfusions from the body of an infected patient and unsterilized needles are also some of the modes of transmission. But in most cases HIV AIDS gets transmitted sexually.

There are certain diseases like herpes and other viral infections which are transmitted sexually. Long periods of overlooking the symptoms of these diseases can be harmful, as then it may invite the virus of AIDS in the body. HIV AIDS infection attacks the immunity systems of bodies. They slowly paralyze the systems and ruin the natural mechanisms of bodies to fight with ordinary diseases. Ultimately the victims die out of some very common and benign diseases, which it could fight in ordinary circumstances.

It is important that you should know the risk of getting involved with multiple partners during sexual activities. The probability of getting infected with HIV AIDS is more for people involved in queer and tedious sexual acts for sheer pleasure than others. Changing sexual partners very often invites the germs of HIV AIDS more readily in the body. It is advisable that you should stay away from group sex, because your life is too precious to put at stake for momentary pleasure and fun. Always maintain safe sexual relationship with your partner by using condoms. It should be remembered by pregnant mothers that the germs of HIV AIDS can infect the developing fetus with the calamitous diseases. It is so wrong, that an innocent, who knows nothing about worldly ways, be infected with such a disease. It is a costly price he pays for the careless act of his predecessors.

As responsible citizens, it is the duty of this generation to inculcate good values to the up coming generations. They should be instructed about the power of abstinence and self control which can help them reap rewards in future by getting rid of sexually transmitted HIV AIDS completely from this world.

When I was in high school, many years ago, I recall reading Edgar Allen Poe’s short story, The Masque of the Red Death. The story is an allegory, which means that the point of the story lays beneath and between the words Poe penned. Poe claimed to dislike allegories. But despite his professed aversion to them, in 1843 he wrote the ‘Masque‘ and it became one of his better-known works. If you have never had the opportunity to read it, I highly recommend that you do. You can find the story on the Internet and read it for free.

The story tells the tale of Prince Prospero who ruled in some far off land. A plague came to his realm and struck with ferocity upon the people he ruled. The plague became known as the “Red Death” and in Poe’s own words:

” The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour…”

When about half of the people Prince Prospero ruled over succumbed to the illness, the prince hatched a plan to take one thousand healthy friends and take refuge in one of his castles. He barred entry and exit from the castle and intended to wait out in splendor, the disease that coursed through his land.

At the end of 2006, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 34 million and 47 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. During 2006, between 2.5 million and 3.5 million people died from AIDS. Over half of all the people who live with HIV/AIDS and die from AIDS live in Africa.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 5.9% of the adult population is infected with HIV/AIDS. In the same area, 2.1 million adults and children died of the disease in 2006. In North America, 0.8% of the population is infected, and 18,000 people died from AIDS in 2006.

Prince Prospero’s idea was simply to let the Red Death burn itself out. Once the disease had left, he and his guests could leave the castle and repopulate the land. This is the reason why the prince chose his guests principally from among the nobles and knights of his realm. To be fair, he also brought in some entertainers and artists, knowing that he and his guests would have to be entertained during their seclusion.

In 2001, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria was started. Since then, $3.3 billion has been obtained from nations throughout the world to help fight disease in Africa. In addition to this, the U.S. Government has contributed an additional $1.1 billion under the President’s Plan for AIDS relief.

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2005, the U.S. Government distributed nearly $3 billion for HIV/AIDS assistance to the 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This single-year assistance is nearly equal to all of the assistance given by all nations over the past 5 years to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa.

After being locked up in the castle for six months, Prince Prospero’s guests were experiencing a little “cabin fever”. So the prince decided to throw a big costumed ball in his apartments within the castle. The prince had seven apartments – a not insignificant number. Each apartment was decorated in differing styles with different colors. One apartment, however, was black and blood red. Most of the guests didn’t go into this apartment because it seemed so dark and foreboding.

Because HIV/AIDS suppresses the human immune system, diseases that were normally suppressed within the human population have returned. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of those diseases. Contrary to what most people believe, TB was never actually cured. Through a regime of drugs, man found a way to suppress the disease. But for the most part, the disease is suppressed by one’s own immune system. Today, it is believed that as many as one-third of the human population on Earth carries a TB strain within their bodies. But so long as their immune system is unimpaired, these estimated 2 billion people may anticipate living their entire lives without ever experiencing a single symptom of TB.

The ball the prince holds is a delight to everyone in the castle. People are enjoying themselves and seem to be completely oblivious to the horrors taking place outside the castle walls. But then, all of a sudden, there appears one person who is costumed as a victim of the Red Death. The crowd shrieks in horror and moves away in fear and loathing from this person. The Prince flies into a rage at seeing one of his apparent guests mocking and terrorizing both he and everyone else at the ball. He demands that the perpetrator be apprehended and hanged from the castle wall for his effrontery.

Because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa, and the lack of drugs and money to combat the disease, TB has not only returned to plague the people of Africa, it has also mutated into new strains. Multi-Drug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) is a strain that is extremely difficult to control and requires the use of many anti-retroviral drugs to combat. WHO has issued repeated warnings that, left unchecked, this new strain of TB can become a global pandemic. Because TB is spread by air, there is no way to protect oneself from contracting the disease. If you are around someone with active TB, then you are probably going to contract the disease.

Now, a new strain of TB has been discovered and identified as Extremely Drug Resistant TB (XDR-TB). Some scientists believe XDR-TB is untreatable. In studies conducted by WHO and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, in Russia and Asia, 53 patients suffering from XDR-TB were treated with anti-retroviral drugs. Despite this treatment, 52 of the patients died within just 25 days of contracting the illness.

The prince and his knights pursue the offending guest through the apartments until they corner him in the black and blood red, seventh apartment. There, to their shock and horror, they discover that the perpetrator was not wearing a costume, but in fact, is infected with the Red Death plague. Within a short time, the prince and all who had gathered within the castle walls perished from the disease.

According to WHO, today approximately 4% of all known XDR-TB cases are found in patients residing in the United States. WHO and other agencies warn that the failure of developed nations to seriously confront and combat this growing epidemic and the HIV/AIDS epidemic that has spawned XDR-TB, will result in a severe mortality impact worldwide.

Dec 1, 2009, World AIDS Day, was celebrated in India with much gung-ho; the health ministry of the Government of India patted itself on the back for the overall drop in the number of HIV positive people in the country – by around 400,000, while the drop in new HIV cases came down to 100,000 per year,.

While this news is indeed encouraging, the question is India in a AIDS-safe zone? India is the third largest nation with HIV AIDS after South Africa and Nigeria, being home to 2.3 million AIDS victims.

How can we fight this debilitating disease? What are the facts on this deadly condition called AIDS that we must know.

AIDS, the abbreviated form of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is the advanced stage of infection by Human Immunodeficiency virus.

AIDS is a global pandemic, and nations across the world are fighting it.

How AIDS spreads: You can contract the infection by having unprotected sex with an infected partner, transfusion of infected blood, or sharing of infected needles. It can pass on to the unborn child of a pregnant mother, who has tested positive for the HIV virus; or after childbirth through breastfeeding;

Signs and symptoms of AIDS may not appear immediately after one contracts the HIV virus infection; in fact, it may take as many as ten long years for the HIV virus to manifest into AIDS, and destroy the body’s immune system completely.

Can AIDS be treated completely? No, it cannot. But it is possible to survive if detection is early by administering antiretroviral therapy as advised by doctors.

Once tested positive for the HIV virus, the victim must make contact with ICTC (Integrated Counseling and Testing Centers).

Although Bangladesh continues to be a low prevalence area, it is surrounded by high prevalence countries (High prevalence of HIV/AIDS in neighboring India). We however must not adopt a complacent attitude in respect as our country has all the determinants for an explosive outbreak of HIV/AIDS epidemic. Curses of poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, proximity of Bangladesh to the so-called ‘Golden Triangle’ & high prevalence of STDs, make our country seriously vulnerable. Drug use increases the HIV risk and can start very early-for example, glue-sniffing by youngsters living or working on the streets. The danger of becoming infected with HIV by sharing injecting equipment is well known, and real. Unemployment, slum housing, family fragility, frequent cross-border movement of people, lack of information, unsafe blood transfusion, physical and sexual abuse-that create a “risk environment” of violence for many young people in the region. In addition increased number of migrant workers, unsafe practice in health service, unsafe sex practice etc. movement of population, less use of condom, polygamy, homosexuality, extra-marital relations, further increases the susceptibility.

In Bangladesh, the intravenous drug users (IDU) are the most potential carriers of HIV/AIDS among the vulnerable groups in the country. The fourth round of national HIV and behavioural surveillance report showed that the HIV infection rate among the injection drug users (IDUs) is now 4 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent previously which is just short of the 5 per cent mark of a concentrated epidemic. About 93.4 per cent IDUs in central Bangladesh admitted that they share same syringe while taking drugs. Even they use the same syringe several times for taking drug.

UNCDP estimates that between 500,000 and 1,00,000 people in Bangladesh are addicted to drugs. Although HIV rates are comparatively lower (one per cent) among the sex workers but Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) rates are still quite high (20 per cent) among this group.

On the other hand, brothel-based female sex workers in Bangladesh report the highest turnover of clients than anywhere in Asia (an average of 18.8 clients per week).

Meanwhile, most of the people of country are unaware about the deadly disease. The 1999-2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey found that only 31 per cent of married women and 50 per cent of newly married men had heard of AIDS. Over 90 per cent of rickshaw pullers could not identify a single method of HIV prevention.

About 13,000 to 17,000 people are living with the incurable virus in Bangladesh, according to the UNAIDS report 2001.

According to the National AIDS Committee and surveillance team members and experts, the rate is quite alarming as it remains one per cent less than the highest five per cent HIV epidemic index. The rate of HIV/AIDS remains less than one per cent among the other vulnerable groups — truckers, migrant workers, gay, hijras (hermaphrodites), professional blood donors, heroin smokers and, hotel, brothel and street based commercial sex workers.

Bangladesh is bordered with India, the second largest HIV infected country in the world; the country is therefore at high risk for the HIV epidemic, said Morten Giersing, UNICEF’s country representative.

Mohammad Khairul Alam Executive Director ‘Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation’

24/3 M. C. Roy Lane Nowbabgonj- Section Post Cod- 1211, Dhaka Bangladesh Tel: 88-02-8628908 Mobile: 0171344997 Email: Rainbow.Foundation@gmail.com Web: [http://www.plusbangla.com/shaheen]

MSS (Master in Social Science) Subject- Social welfare, Dhaka University

Father’s Name : Al-Haz Dr. MD. Abdul Matin

Mother’s Name : Ms. Kadija Matin

Date of Birth : 29th October, 1970

Nationality : Bangladeshi (by birth)

Specialization synopsis

HIV/AIDS program consultant

-Have a sound experience in research and development field. -Good competency in research, planning, monitoring and evaluation; Participated in a number of International Seminars, Training Programs and Workshop. -Smoothly participates in PPME (participatory Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation) -Proficient in Non- Formal Education, Technological Based Education, Gender, HIV/ AIDS Project Proposal writing, Reporting, Project Design, Strategic Planning etc.