STIs stands for Sexually Transmitted Infections. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are passed from one person to another primarily through sexual contact by body fluids (semen, vaginal fluid and blood). However some STIs may spread from person to person or from one area of the body to another by causal contact or by contaminated items and clothing such as towels.

Some of the common STIs include:

• Gonorrhea
• Chlamydia
• Syphilis
• Genital Warts
• Candidiasis
• Genital Herpes
• Unitary Tract Infection
• HIV

Some examples of common symptoms of STIs include:

• Wounds, sores, ulcer, rash or blisters on, in or around the vagina or penis.
• A pus-like or bloody discharge from the vagina or penis.
• Vaginal yeast infections.
• A smelly discharge from the vagina.
• Pain in the lower abdomen.
• Itching or redness in the genital area.
• Pain or a burning sensation when urinating.
• Abnormal or irregular bleeding from the vagina.
• Pain or bleeding during sexual intercourse.
• Swelling around or in the vagina or penis.
• A combination of any of the above symptoms.

If you notice some of the above symptoms, it is advisable to see a medical officer for treatment. Some people with STIs however may not experience noticeable symptoms but this does not mean that the STIs would cause problems down the road. STIs increase the risk of both acquisition and transmission of HIV. Thus prompt treatment for STIs is important to reduce the risk of HIV infection.

Infection with STIs can lead to acute symptoms, chronic infection and serious delayed consequences such as infertility and cervical cancer.  HIV and syphilis can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy and childbirth.

STIs that are caused by bacteria e.g. Gonorrhea, Chlamydia and Syphilis can be treated and cured by antibiotics.
STIs which are caused by viruses e.g. HIV, Genital Herpes, Genital Warts cannot be cured but the symptoms caused by the viruses can be treated  thereby limiting how they spread.

VCT  for HIV is  Voluntary Counseling and Testing for HIV. VCT involves a person on his or her own deciding to go for an HIV test to know whether he or she is HIV negative or HIV positive.
There are quite a number of places in and around Kampala where you can go for VCT services. Below are some of the places you can go to for VCT services:

• Infectious Diseases Clinic (IDR) at Mulago.
• Mulago Hospital Antenatal Clinic.
• Mulago, Nsambya, Mengo and Rubaga Hospitals.
• Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Mengo.
• TASO Mulago.
• Naguru Health Centre
• Kiswa Health Centre
• Kawempe Health Centre
• Mildmay –Uganda at Kajjansi and others.

Typically VCT services consist of:

1. A pre-testing counseling session or sessions with a trained counselor, after which you may decide to take the HIV test either on the same day or a different day or not to take the test at all.
2. In case you decide to take the test, the HIV test will be performed using approved HIV test kits and methods.
3. A post-testing counseling session or sessions with a trained counselor to prepare you to receive your results whether the results are positive or negative.
4. In case you are HIV positive, advice to referral places you can go to for medical, emotional and social care and support.

VCT services therefore provide the opportunity for people to know their HIV status with quality counseling support to help them cope with a positive or negative HIV test result.
It is not recommended to take an HIV test without pre- test and post-test counseling.

Voluntary Counseling and Testing (CVT) for HIV benefits people who go for the HIV test whether the test results turn out to be negative or positive.

• Knowing one is HIV negative can serve as a strong motivating factor to remain negative, particularly for those who may assume it is too late to adopt safer sexual practices.
• Knowing one is HIV positive can be a motivation to adopt a more healthy lifestyle that slows down the progression from HIV infection to symptomatic HIV disease and full blown AIDS- for example avoiding further risks of infection with other viral strains and STIs, seeking early treatment for opportunistic and HIV/AIDs related infections, having better nutrition and avoiding smoking and reducing stress.

VCT for HIV is a “gateway” for accessing medical treatment, emotional and social support needed by HIV positive people. Today, there are many HIV positive people living healthy and positive lives.

“HIV/AIDS, You have a Role to Play too” means that everyone including students has a role to play in the prevention and the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
As a student, you need to :

• Seek knowledge and information that empowers  you to acquire critical life skills that will help you stay safe from HIV/AIDS.
• Support and care for all infected and affected learners, teachers and other persons and work tirelessly to eliminate stigma and discrimination.
• Participate in school-based anti-HIV/AIDS activities on prevention, mitigation and capacity building.
• Set goals in life that motivate and drive you on to achieve and stay out of mischief and predisposition to dangerous or risky situations.
• Report suspicious conduct, indecent touches and all forms of sexual abuse to a trusted elder in the school or to your parent and/or community or religious leader.
• Aquire and share knowledge and skills of HIV/AIDS.
• Act as  a positive behavior role model to your fellow students and peers.
• Know your HIV status through VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing).
• If you are living with HIV/AIDS, seek medical and psychosocial care, adhere to treatment, live positively, protect yourself from re-infection and from infecting others.

Yes it is possible for a couple who are both HIV positive to produce a child who is HIV negative using Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV.

The child is not infected at the moment of conception as sperm and ova do not carry the HIV virus and they are what create the foetus. The baby is usually infected during pregnancy as the mother exchanges blood with her child through the placenta. It is during the delivery that the risk of infection of the child is highest due to exposure to maternal blood and vaginal secretions. The baby can also be infected by the mother’s milk, which contains HIV during breastfeeding.

Mother-to-child transmission of HIV can greatly be prevented through regular testing of pregnant mothers. Free ARVs are given at the hospital to the HIV positive mothers during pregnancy, labor and delivery, after delivery and to the newborn babies for the first few weeks of their life. There are should also be no breastfeeding of the baby.

No. it is not true that ARVs cure HIV/AIDS. Antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) are not a cure for HIV/AIDS and cannot prevent HIV infection but can significantly improve the quality of life of people living with the HIV virus. ARVs taken correctly reduce the ability of the HIV virus to replicate or multiply. This in turn increases the ability of the body to fight diseases.

ARVs therefore change HIV from a terminal (fatal) disease to a chronic disease like diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma. A chronic disease is one which can not  be “cured” but can be controlled.

HIV uses CD4 cells (infection-fighting white blood cells) as an HIV factory to replicate or multiply. ARVs get into the CD4 cells at different places and reduce the ability of the HIV virus to replicate so less HIV virus can be made. Because of the nature of the replication cycle of the HIV virus, ARVs usually work in a combination, each acting at a different stage and in a different way to prevent HIV replicating with the CD4 cell.

The amount of HIV in a person’s blood is called viral load. People with a high viral load are more likely to progress rapidly to AIDS than people with a low viral load.

A person on ARVs should not stop even if he or she feels better. It is extremely important for the person on ARVs to adhere to a course of ARV treatment as recommended by the health care adviser. Adherence means to take the correct combination of the ARVs, the correct dose, the correct frequency and at the correct time. A person on ARVs needs a support network (friends, family, HIV+ peers) to encourage and remind him or her to adhere to the course of ARV treatment.

If a person on ARVs misses a dose, it becomes easier for the virus to change its form (mutate) inside the body. Once this happens, the original ARV course will not be effective against the new virus that has mutated or changed form.

Frequent poor adherence, may lead to greater risk of transmission, susceptibility to other infections, increased health costs, drug resistance, limited future ARV treatment options and faster progression to AIDS.

Your challenge is a diverse one in the sense that you not only have to live with yourself but also with the different world in your life like your friends, classmates, the school community and family. This entire world of yours has to be in good balance for you to live comfortably in school. In them all however, you should not look at yourself as someone “gone” with no hope at all because the truth is that you still have a future to achieve your dreams in life. A number of HIV positive people are still living successful lives.

With yourself, you may need to try and accept your status and better look after yourself by taking your medication consistently (that is if you started on ARVs), keeping out of stressful situations so as not to burden your mind, feed in a healthy way, go for routine counseling for support and guarding your life from re-infection or infecting others.

With friends and classmates, hard as it might seem, you may need to let your friends know about your status so that all can better protect themselves from getting infected, to earn yourself social support which you will so much need and to be a role model for other students that might have the same challenge as you but with less courage.

While in school, you might have to empower yourself with skills to build your confidence because in as much as stigma against HIV positive students is going down, not everyone will have a positive attitude towards you. If you don’t have confidence, you may feel less of yourself and even perform poorly in class.

Besides friends, you have to let medical personnel know about your condition, so that you can easily be helped in case you have need for medical assistance.

At home, one of the main things you need is social support- to remind you about your medication, provide for your good feeding, offer you a stepping stone of confidence, just as it needs to be for any other family member.

All in all, you are going to need to love and appreciate yourself, try to build a firm social network and to live positively. You are still very youthful and still have a lot to offer to your world.