October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. 1 in 3 women experience intimate partner violence. For women with HIV, it’s 1 in 2.
Watch Tonya Lewis Lee in conversation with 5 inspiring women with HIV about intimate partner violence.
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Showing 71 posts tagged hiv
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Does your partner have HIV? PrEP is a daily pill that lowers your chances of getting HIV. Take this quiz to find out if you’re a possible candidate for PrEP>>
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It’s National HIV Testing Day!
Getting tested is a basic part of being healthy — and it’s quick, easy, and painless. The sooner you know your status, the sooner you can get treatment.
Far too many people in the black community face unequal access to proper health care and education services, especially when it comes to HIV and AIDS. At Planned Parenthood, we’re proud to work together with community leaders to increase health care access & create greater opportunities.
Can I get HIV from kissing?
Someone asked us:
Would it be inadvisable to kiss (heavily) someone you know to be H.I.V. positive?
It’s OK to kiss someone with HIV. HIV is passed through three fluids: breast milk, blood, and genital fluids. Saliva doesn’t carry the virus, so kissing is considered very low-risk when it comes to HIV transmission.
In the unlikely scenario that BOTH you and your make-out buddy have open sores or cuts inside your mouths, take a break until that heals up. But otherwise, kiss-away! Mwah!
-Mylanie at Planned Parenthood
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Today is World AIDS Day. See how young people in Kenya are taking health into their own hands, providing basic reproductive health counseling and contraceptive access to their peers, classmates, and friends: http://p.ppfa.org/1y4vral
What’s the safest way for me to have a baby with my HIV+ partner?
Someone asked us:
My boyfriend has HIV and we always wear condoms as a result, but we’ve always wanted to have children together and have danced around the fact our condom use prevents that. Is there anything we can do to have children with IVF while still keeping me (and our future babies) safe?
Good news! Mixed-status couples can have perfectly healthy children without spreading HIV. Here’s what you need to know:
Look into something called “sperm washing.” Sperm washing can remove HIV from semen, making it safe to use for fertility procedures (like artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization).
If the person who is looking to get pregnant is HIV positive, then artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization is the way to go, along with following a doctor’s advice for treatment throughout pregnancy. Additionally, people living with HIV/AIDS should NOT breastfeed their babies. Along with semen, vaginal fluids, and blood, HIV is also carried in breast milk, so nursing can pass the virus to their child.
At the end of the day, your best bet is to find a doctor who knows about this stuff and work with them to figure out what makes the most sense for you.
Finally, whether or not y’all are trying to get pregnant, look into backing up those condoms with PReP to further reduce your risk of HIV transmission.
-Mylanie at Planned Parenthood
Is it possible to prevent the spread of HIV in your relationship?
Someone asked us:
Hi! I have a question :) So I’m wanting to start having sex with my boyfriend and well how do I say this, he has HIV and I am wondering the safest way to prevent myself from contracting it or of its even possible to prevent it? Thanks!
It’s great that your boyfriend knows his status and that you’re both thinking about protection. It’s definitely possible to prevent the spread of HIV in a relationship — you two are just going to have to be cautious, that’s all.
Let’s start with the basics: use condoms and other barriers (like rubber gloves) to prevent exposure to the three fluids that can spread HIV during sex: blood, semen and vaginal secretions. (There is a fourth fluid that can transmit HIV – breast milk – but that’s for another post.) Making sure you ALWAYS use condoms and prevent exposure to his genital fluids and blood is going to be the biggest way to reduce your risk when you two become sexually active.
Even though you know his HIV status, you should both get tested for other STDs before you start having sex — if either of you have any undiagnosed STDs, it can increase the risk of transmitting HIV. Plus your boyfriend’s HIV is gonna make him extra vulnerable to any infections you may have, so take care of both of y’all by getting tested before you start having sex. You should actually plan to go in for HIV testing at least once a year, but possibly more often (ask your doctor what’s best for your situation).
When you go for testing, tell them about your boyfriend’s status and ask about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP). PrEP is a daily pill for HIV-negative people that reduces their chances of catching HIV. PrEP should be taken as prescribed by your doctor, and used with other types of prevention like safer sex, in order to provide the best protection from HIV. PEP is a little different —it’s a month-long regimen of drugs given to people who have already been exposed to HIV.
And it’s important that your boyfriend is taking care of himself as well. Following his doctor’s orders, staying on top of his treatment, and keeping himself generally healthy will help you both.
If you’re careful, practice safer sex, and follow your doctor’s instructions, you can focus more on each other, and less on his HIV.
-Mylanie at Planned Parenthood
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“Even though I am in a committed and monogamous relationship, I still get tested yearly for STDs. I just went to my local Planed Parenthood last week to get a rapid HIV test. All it took was a drop of blood from my finger and 20 minutes later I found out that I was negative for HIV. There is power in knowledge. Thank you Planned Parenthood for all that you do!” -Anonymous
We want to hear your story: Have you been tested for HIV at a Planned Parenthood health center? Why’d you get tested? How did you feel? How did our health center staff support you? Share your experience here>>