Story
Have you ever heard of anyone who asked you, what is HIV? As always I have been providing free HIV test since I first started my clinic. I wanted it to be available to the people who needed me and this service. I will still remember my first HIV positive patient who had the test done. He asked me a question “Doctor! What is HIV?” I was taken aback as I assumed that everyone knows about HIV. So I asked him if he does not know what is HIV, then what made him come for the HIV test? He then said that he saw free test on my Facebook, so he decided to come for testing thinking it was for something like for diabetes and cholesterol test. He was oblivious to HIV and it seemed like a new disease that he never knew existed.
Malaysia is still very juvenile about HIV. We have been very secluded and obscured about sex education and about HIV in our schools, communities and society about HIV. HIV is spreading like wildfire in Asian countries as awareness is bleak.
In Asian countries, there is still an uphill battle with the topic of “SEX” as a Taboo, worse will be “Sexually Transmitted Disease” as a Defilement. The cultural and religious part about these two topics is not openly discussed in schools at an early age. The conservative approach to sexuality is not helping to address all the social problems and prevent the problems
Problem
Malaysia is still very juvenile about HIV. We have been very secluded and obscured about sex education and about HIV in our schools, communities and society about HIV. HIV is spreading like wildfire in Asian countries as awareness is bleak. Malaysia in the 90’s, we had an epidemic regarding HIV in injection drug users and it was a burden to the economy. We were very gung-ho about awareness and programs to rehabilitate those who were drug users. Our rates of drug users infected with HIV reduced from more than 70 percent to less than 1 percent in the past 30 years because of the effort of the government.
In Asian countries, there is still an uphill battle with the topic of “SEX” as a Taboo, worse will be “Sexually Transmitted Disease” as a Defilement. The cultural and religious part about these two topics is not openly discussed in schools at an early age. The conservative approach to sexuality is not helping to address all the social problems and prevent the problems
We are now facing a new issue in the younger generation as HIV is now transmitted more rampantly through sexual intercourse and our generation has the faintest idea about HIV. In the recent developments of more drug trafficking, usage and abuses; the spread of HIV becomes worse as it usually leads to unsafe sex.
What is HIV?
HIV is a double-stranded RNA virus. This virus is the only known double-stranded RNA virus to man. So HIV is a virus which is transmitted through blood, sharing of needles, semen, vaginal secretions and through anal sex.
HIV makes it easy to incorporate into the human immune cell DNA. HIV plays the role of a husband and the wife is the human immune cell DNA (CD 4 cells, T-lymphocyte helper Cells), both perfect like a marriage which is complementary to each other despite one can be toxic to the relationship.
This virus basically affects the immune system of the individual and reduces the host immune response to other infections. In short, this virus goes into your body and enters the host immune cell, where it replicates and destroys the immune cell from the inside out. Take for example the KGB, which is a Russian Intelligence (here referred as HIV) and it infiltrates American Intelligence (here referred as the immune cell) and taking out the American Intelligence like an insider job.
HIV in the present is not a disease to be feared but to be embraced because our advancement of treatment and control is improving. We are also looking for other breakthroughs like a cure for HIV and vaccines for HIV. These breakthroughs may be present in the future and there is hope.
The spread of HIV
We are now facing a new issue in the younger generation as HIV is now transmitted more rampantly through sexual intercourse and our generation has the faintest idea about HIV. So HIV a virus which is transmitted through blood, semen, vaginal secretions and through unsafe anal sex.
AMD clinic supports those afflicted with HIV through our own group called HIV Support Group called JB-HAPPI (Johor Bahru HIV and AIDS Prevention and Protection Institution) and those who want to get HIV Tested.
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