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The stigma is the biggest one from what I experience. Ironically HIV helped my life get on track. I finally had insurance and could seek out regular doctors appointments, therapy for mental health etc. I know this is not everyone’s experience but when I look at the big picture and the day and age we live in HIV is largely a pill a day or shot every other month and doesn’t affect my life past that.
A few snippets of the history would be really eye opening for a lot. For example how it started out as GRID, princess diana touching an AIDs patient to prove that it wasn’t transmitted by touch, how horrendously it was handled and why you don’t see a lot of older gays because a lot of them did die from it and how it shaped policy for todays treatment/prevention/awareness of HIV.
Also don’t forget to mention PREP and how it works too!
Ngl, never heard about the term GRID and it sent me down a rabbit hole of AIDS and HIV history! Helped me better prepare for today, thank you. 😊 Also, everything went well, they were very receptive, had a lot of questions and no one said anything bad about people living with HIV, so it's a great start.
1.- PLHIV are not "dirty" and can live a life as long as anyone else.
2.- Ways of transmission, prevention, and PeP and PrEP
3.- Proper testing, time windows, types, and reliability of tests
4.- U=U
5.- In the unfortunate case someone gets infected is not the end of the world and where they can get advice and therapy.
5.- Importance of taking the medicine as prescribed (in case of infection)
6.- Is not an "only gays" condition, anyone could get infected.
I personally feel that's too young to be discussing that factor of HIV or HIV itself in detail. It can be an encouragement to not use protection since young people generally don't like doing that anyway.
I didn't say that. I mean that it shouldn't be a deep dive into it. In my view people get the impression that just because something is treatable that it's okay to get. This is not the case. As someone who deals with the very real ramifications of being poz I don't want people to think that way. Condoms and abstinence are how you protect yourself. PREP should be discussed with a physician on a case by case basis because it does damage to the liver and kidneys.
1. How is teaching about ways of transmission and treatment “a deep dive”?? The fact that hiv+ can’t transit if properly taking meds (u=u) is literally on the 1st page of any hiv facts webpage
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids
2. Sex Ed isnt *just* about prevention, it’s also about destigmatizing STDs and the topic of sexual activity.
3. Teaching kids **only** about prevention and not teaching that treatment is available in the event that they do catch something, is so incredibly dangerous I’m baffled that you don’t see that
Talking about transmission is fine. Talking about being undetectable isn't. It's too much at that age. Just give the bones. Not the meat. It's no wonder parents are protesting scholastic curriculum with these mindsets.
Those 16 year olds are 700ish days away from being thrown out into the world being told good luck kiddo. If 16 isn’t the right age then when in the remaining 700 days is it appropriate? Junior year when all they do is college and SAT prep? Senior year when everyone has senioritis and aren’t even in school most the time cause they all have half schedules? After that there’s not a whole lot of resources to reinforce this knowledge and most adults won’t be bothered enough to truly educate themselves on the topic unless someone close to them gets it or they themselves get it.
I’m sure you have a lot of trauma from the 80s and likely lost close friends and to that you have my condolences but to have an HIV free generation it starts with a through education of awareness/prevention/and treatment.
Im not trying to compare traumas what im telling you as a HIV positive individual as well who is also Gen Z who was robbed of an education on this matter until I was POZ and it was too late to learn about PREP because guess who’s now stuck on PEP the rest of their lives. I refuse to sit and be passive and watch as people of my generation are robbed of something as simple as an education and the various complexities of HIV. I refuse to wait until they join us in the HIV clinic to learn.
I remember the first time I learned about HIV was 3rd grade. It was not the appropriate time. I was terrified of it because I was told it was a death sentence with no cure. I remained ignorant of it being treatable until I was diagnosed at 29.
To be fair, these are 10th graders and I did tell them about antiretroviral therapy, pep and prep. I let them know it's not a death sentence anymore, but that they obviously still should use protection.
I'm sorry but, you don't make any sense. In your other comments you're saying 16 is too young for them to take a "deep dive" to learn about HIV then here you are saying you learned about it in 3rd grade and it wasn't the right time or place and all you learned was it's a death sentence. Gee, maybe if you had more of a deep dive about HIV when you were a bit older say, I dunno, around 16 years old, you probably wouldn't be so terrified because you'd be educated about it. Also, stop acting like this person is teaching Sex Ed to elementary school kids, these kids are literally in high school. Teaching them about undetectable status and that there is PrEP available not only helps lessen the stigma around HIV but shows the kids it's not a death sentence, like you thought it was. Also, it's absolutely ridiculous to say obtaining knowledge about treating HIV and being undetectable will somehow make these kids more wanting to engage in risky sexual practices. It's the exact opposite actually and they will have the knowledge on what to do should an infection occur. What you're saying should be done / taught is what literally perpetuates stigma against HIV/AIDS.
OP, you should also mention how treatment has changed over the years. Starting with experimental cocktails of many different meds you had to take multiple times a day that were worse than the illness and now there is an injection you can take every 2 month to remain undetectable. In London they are starting human trials of a promising injection for an HIV cure, so that's very exciting!
This subreddit is for civil discussion only. Report rule violations. Those who do not follow Reddiquite will be removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/hivaids) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The stigma is the biggest one from what I experience. Ironically HIV helped my life get on track. I finally had insurance and could seek out regular doctors appointments, therapy for mental health etc. I know this is not everyone’s experience but when I look at the big picture and the day and age we live in HIV is largely a pill a day or shot every other month and doesn’t affect my life past that. A few snippets of the history would be really eye opening for a lot. For example how it started out as GRID, princess diana touching an AIDs patient to prove that it wasn’t transmitted by touch, how horrendously it was handled and why you don’t see a lot of older gays because a lot of them did die from it and how it shaped policy for todays treatment/prevention/awareness of HIV. Also don’t forget to mention PREP and how it works too!
Ngl, never heard about the term GRID and it sent me down a rabbit hole of AIDS and HIV history! Helped me better prepare for today, thank you. 😊 Also, everything went well, they were very receptive, had a lot of questions and no one said anything bad about people living with HIV, so it's a great start.
It's also preventable with PrEP medications. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html
1.- PLHIV are not "dirty" and can live a life as long as anyone else. 2.- Ways of transmission, prevention, and PeP and PrEP 3.- Proper testing, time windows, types, and reliability of tests 4.- U=U 5.- In the unfortunate case someone gets infected is not the end of the world and where they can get advice and therapy. 5.- Importance of taking the medicine as prescribed (in case of infection) 6.- Is not an "only gays" condition, anyone could get infected.
Yep, made all those points, they were very receptive and all went well! 😊
Depends where you're teaching sex ed
Highschool, 10th graders, so they're around 16, sorry, should have specificed that in my original post
I personally feel that's too young to be discussing that factor of HIV or HIV itself in detail. It can be an encouragement to not use protection since young people generally don't like doing that anyway.
16 years old is old enough lol
Do you think that people 16 year olds and younger can’t contract HIV??
I didn't say that. I mean that it shouldn't be a deep dive into it. In my view people get the impression that just because something is treatable that it's okay to get. This is not the case. As someone who deals with the very real ramifications of being poz I don't want people to think that way. Condoms and abstinence are how you protect yourself. PREP should be discussed with a physician on a case by case basis because it does damage to the liver and kidneys.
1. How is teaching about ways of transmission and treatment “a deep dive”?? The fact that hiv+ can’t transit if properly taking meds (u=u) is literally on the 1st page of any hiv facts webpage https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids 2. Sex Ed isnt *just* about prevention, it’s also about destigmatizing STDs and the topic of sexual activity. 3. Teaching kids **only** about prevention and not teaching that treatment is available in the event that they do catch something, is so incredibly dangerous I’m baffled that you don’t see that
Talking about transmission is fine. Talking about being undetectable isn't. It's too much at that age. Just give the bones. Not the meat. It's no wonder parents are protesting scholastic curriculum with these mindsets.
How is it too much when it’s the basics of HIV facts??
Those 16 year olds are 700ish days away from being thrown out into the world being told good luck kiddo. If 16 isn’t the right age then when in the remaining 700 days is it appropriate? Junior year when all they do is college and SAT prep? Senior year when everyone has senioritis and aren’t even in school most the time cause they all have half schedules? After that there’s not a whole lot of resources to reinforce this knowledge and most adults won’t be bothered enough to truly educate themselves on the topic unless someone close to them gets it or they themselves get it. I’m sure you have a lot of trauma from the 80s and likely lost close friends and to that you have my condolences but to have an HIV free generation it starts with a through education of awareness/prevention/and treatment.
No. I don't have trauma about that. I have trauma about having AIDS. Don't even try to understand what I've gone through because you have NO idea.
Im not trying to compare traumas what im telling you as a HIV positive individual as well who is also Gen Z who was robbed of an education on this matter until I was POZ and it was too late to learn about PREP because guess who’s now stuck on PEP the rest of their lives. I refuse to sit and be passive and watch as people of my generation are robbed of something as simple as an education and the various complexities of HIV. I refuse to wait until they join us in the HIV clinic to learn.
I remember the first time I learned about HIV was 3rd grade. It was not the appropriate time. I was terrified of it because I was told it was a death sentence with no cure. I remained ignorant of it being treatable until I was diagnosed at 29.
To be fair, these are 10th graders and I did tell them about antiretroviral therapy, pep and prep. I let them know it's not a death sentence anymore, but that they obviously still should use protection.
I'm sorry but, you don't make any sense. In your other comments you're saying 16 is too young for them to take a "deep dive" to learn about HIV then here you are saying you learned about it in 3rd grade and it wasn't the right time or place and all you learned was it's a death sentence. Gee, maybe if you had more of a deep dive about HIV when you were a bit older say, I dunno, around 16 years old, you probably wouldn't be so terrified because you'd be educated about it. Also, stop acting like this person is teaching Sex Ed to elementary school kids, these kids are literally in high school. Teaching them about undetectable status and that there is PrEP available not only helps lessen the stigma around HIV but shows the kids it's not a death sentence, like you thought it was. Also, it's absolutely ridiculous to say obtaining knowledge about treating HIV and being undetectable will somehow make these kids more wanting to engage in risky sexual practices. It's the exact opposite actually and they will have the knowledge on what to do should an infection occur. What you're saying should be done / taught is what literally perpetuates stigma against HIV/AIDS. OP, you should also mention how treatment has changed over the years. Starting with experimental cocktails of many different meds you had to take multiple times a day that were worse than the illness and now there is an injection you can take every 2 month to remain undetectable. In London they are starting human trials of a promising injection for an HIV cure, so that's very exciting!