The United Nations defines violence against women as “any act that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.”

Violence against women and girls is a serious major human rights and public health concern. Violence against women encompasses a wide range of abuses, from physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community.

Violence against women takes many forms including battering (beating, slapping), sexual abuse of women and girls (rape including marital rape, coerced sex, harassment), female genital mutilation, intimidation and sexual harassment at school and at the place of work, forced prostitution, trafficking for sex and sex tourism, child marriage, widow inheritance and cleansing (both of which increasing HIV infection risk), intimate partner violence, dowry-related violence etc.

In Uganda, violence against women is widespread.
The 2006 Uganda Demographic House Survey (UDHS) found that:

• 60 percent of women (15-19) years had ever experienced physical violence. With 67 percent of those who had experienced physical violence saying an intimate partner was responsible.
• 39 percent reported experiencing sexual violence. With 44 percent of women who had experienced sexual violence saying their current husband or partner was responsible.
• 24 percent of the women reported forced first sexual encounter.

Though violence against women is very rampant, the shame associated with it may contribute to the fact that most women often suffer it in silence, afraid of repercussions and stigma and never tell anyone.

The abused women and girls are more likely to suffer from depression, loss of self-esteem, anxiety, sexual dysfunction and many reproductive health problems including miscarriage and still birth, premature delivery, HIV and Sexuality Transmitted Infections (STIs), unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

Knowing that you are HIV positive poses new challenges but is not the end of the world. Being HIV positive does not mean you have AIDS. While there is no medicine or treatment to cure HIV, there are several medicines that can keep the virus in check, protecting the immune system from damage and thus slowing the progression of HIV to AIDS. There are many people who are HIV positive but living a healthy life. With proper medical care and by taking care of yourself, you can live a long healthy life with HIV allowing you to achieve your goals and dreams in life.

There are a number of things you can do as way of living positively with HIV.

Learn all what you can about HIV

Knowing as much as you can about HIV is one of the most powerful weapons in your fight against the virus. Learn about how HIV weakens the body immune system, types of treatment available, how to prevent re-infection and infecting others etc.

Choose a counselor

Find a counselor who you can relate to, who understands HIV/AIDS and the challenges of living with HIV and who is prepared to be there for you in an ongoing and flexible way. The counselor will listen to your worries and what you are going through and will give you professional advice.

Choose a healthcare provider

You need to choose a healthcare provider you trust and fell comfortable with. The healthcare provider needs to have a lot of experience dealing and treating people with HIV/AIDS. You will need to regularly visit the HIV doctor for monitoring your viral load and CD4 count. In case of medication, your doctor will need to prescribe the right doses and schedule for taking ARVs. You need to consult your doctor whenever you don’t feel well with the medication or you have undesirable side-effects. Seek medical care quickly when infections such as bronchitis, rush and skin sores appear.

Join HIV positive support groups

Knowing that you are not alone and being connected with other people living with HIV and AIDS can be a powerful source of support and an important resource. By sharing your experiences and worries with other people living with HIV, you can reduce anxieties, learn new strategies for coping with HIV and build new friendship with people who are facing similar challenges.

Make healthy lifestyle choices

Your lifestyle choices affect how well your treatment works well in the future.
Exercise regularly but not strenuous exercises. Exercising strengthens muscles, improves mood, relieves stress and increases appetite.
Don’t feel guilty or ashamed and have a positive attitude towards yourself and others.
Eat plenty of food which is rich in protein, vitamins and carbohydrates.
Avoid alcohol consumption. Alcohol can make medications like ARVs less effective and reduces appetite. It also can lead to risky behavior.
Avoid smoking because it increases the risk of illness and infections like pneumonia.
Reduce stress and worry by knowing that there are many useful people who are living with HIV and by participating in socializing activities.
Abstain from sex or and if you are sexually active be mutually faithful to a single partner  and always use a latex condom correctly every time you have sex to prevent you from re-infection with HIV, infection from other sexually transmitted infections and infecting others. Remember you have a big role to play in the prevention of the spread of HIV.

Adhere to doctors’ prescriptions for medication

In case the doctor recommends ARVs medication to you, take every dose of ARV medication on schedule. ARVs don’t cure AIDS. Some stop the HIV from entering body cells and others stop HIV from making copies of themselves (replicating). You   must take ARVs exactly in the right amounts of each medicine and at the right times and frequency as described by the doctor. The goal is to keep the right amount of each medicine in your body at all times. This helps to keep the viral load (amount of HIV in your body) low and the CD4 count high. Skipping doses, gives the virus a chance to change form (mutate) and become resistant to the medication. Your medicine might not be able to control the new form of HIV.

Tell your parents and trusted close relatives and friends about your HIV status

Parents and very close friends are an important part of your support system, being open to them about your HIV status as early as possible will help you to deal with the infection. Your parents may have a number of questions about how you got infected. You can get help with telling your parents about your HIV status from your counselor. Though difficult, you need to tell your parents because you will need their financial and emotional support and care.

HIV and AIDS are acronyms. An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of a series of words.

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Human: Disease that affects human
Immunodeficiency: Breakdown in the body’s defense system
Virus:    Microscopic organism that feeds off living cells

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Acquired: Contracted by the sick person during his or her life
Immune:  Affecting the body’s immune system
Deficiency: Weakness
Syndrome: All the signs characterize a disease

How HIV destroys the persons’ immune system

When one gets infected with HIV, the HIV travels in the blood stream attacking the CD4 cells. CD4 cells are an important part of the immune system. The immune system is a group of organs and special cells that protect the body from germs and disease. The CD4 cells in the body act like soldiers to find, attack and destroy infected cells.

When HIV enters the healthy CD4 cell, it uses a chemical to change the cell’s genetic information- the information the cell uses to make new cells. The cell is forced to make HIV, just like it would make new cells such as new skin cells. The production of HIV repeats itself over and over again. The HIV therefore uses the CD4 cells as a virus–making factory to make lots of copies of itself.  The CD4 cell is now infected and is destroyed in the process because it no longer makes substances that help the body protect itself from diseases.

The new HIV mature and leave the CD4 cell into the blood stream. The new HIV travels in the blood stream attacking and destroying more CD4 cells. As more CD4 cells die, the body’s immune system grows weaker and weaker.
As more copies of HIV are made, the amount of HIV in the body increases, further weakening the immune system. A weak immune system makes it hard for the body to fight germs and avoid infections.

HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. HIV is a virus that causes AIDS. HIV infection can be by blood-to-blood contact, from mother to child and sexually through direct bodily fluids (semen and vaginal fluids). A person with HIV in the body is referred to as HIV positive.

HIV is a retro virus meaning it needs cells from a “host” in order to make copies of itself (replication). When HIV enters the body, it uses CD4 cells to make copies of itself or to replicate.

In the body, there are CD4 cells which are a specialized type of white blood cells that are part of the immune system. The CD4 cells initiate the body’s response to invading infections like viruses.

When in the body, HIV attacks the CD4 cells and uses these cells to make copies of its self damaging them in the process. As more copies of HIV are made, the amount of HIV in the blood increases and more and more CD4 cells are destroyed.
As the number of CD4 cells in the body decreases, the body’s immune system (body’s ability to protect its self from infections and diseases) reduces. The fewer the functioning CD4 cells, the weaker the immune system and therefore the more vulnerable a person is to infections and decreases. A person with a very weak immune system can easily suffer from “opportunistic infections” which rarely cause harm in healthy individuals.

The number of CD4 cells per cubic millimeter  of blood is called CD4 count. In a healthy adult the CD4 count is (600-1,200). If the CD4 count is less than 200, the immune system is severely weakened and the HIV positive person is at a very high risk of getting “opportunistic infections”.

AIDS is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. An HIV positive person is said to have AIDS when the CD4 count is less than 200 or when suffering from certain types of opportunistic infections such as Tuberculosis. It is important to know that not all HIV positive people have AIDS.

The time between HIV infection and progressing to AIDS differs for each person and depends on many factors, including a person’s health status, health-related behaviours and access to health care.
While there is no cure for HIV, antiretroviral therapy (ART) which tries to prevent the virus from replication can slow the progression from HIV infection to AIDS.

Women are more than twice as likely to acquire HIV from an infected partner during unprotected sexual intercourse as  men. A combination of biological, social and economic factors contribute to young women and girls’ vulnerability to HIV infection.

•  Young women are among the most vulnerable to HIV infection because their genital tracts have less mature tissue which may be more easily torn. 
•  Young women are often victims of coercive or forced sex. Forced sex can contribute to HIV transmission due to tears resulting from the use of force. 
•  Economic and social dependence on men limits the power of women to refuse sex or negotiate the use of condoms. 
•  Many young women lack information about sex and reproductive health and disease prevention including HIV prevention. 
• Young women may also lack access to health care and education. 
•  Young women are often less able to negotiate for safer sex due to reasons such as their lower status, economic dependence, fear of violence and low self-esteem. 
•  Young women’s limited economic opportunities and relative powerlessness may force them into survival sex. 
•  Young women are increasingly being targeted for sex by older men seeking safer sex partners and also who erroneously believe that a man infected with HIV/AIDS will get rid of the disease by having sex with a virgin.

Having small wounds on your private parts does not necessarily mean you have HIV/AIDS. The only way you can know whether you have HIV/AIDS is through taking an HIV blood test. You should not just believe in what your friends say about yoour situations.

The small wounds on your private parts may be a result of wearing tight, damp knickers in which case you need to wear comfortable dry cotton knickers. The small wounds could even be a result of a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can be diagnosed by a medical personnel and treatment given.
You should immediately see a medical personnel for help.