Nashville Cares Presents HIV Awareness Program

The presentation HIV/AIDS 101 – Understanding the Basics covers the following:

•             What is HIV

•             What is AIDS

•             How the virus enters the body, attacks the immune system cells, and the effect HIVAIDS has on the body, and the body’s ability to fight other infections

•             Transmission (fluids and acts)

•             Medication (availability, expense, side effects, importance of adherence)

•             How HIV/AIDS can be prevented (abstinence, condoms, education, testing)

•             The importance in routine HIV testing (who should be tested, how often)

•             Information about the Rapid Oral HIV test

•             History of the virus

•             Viral impact on society

•             Statistical information relevant to Tennessee

•             How HIV/AIDS affects incarcerated individuals (risk, increase in new positives, transmission possibilities, erasing stigma, and dispelling fears)

•             HIV positive speaker – who gives a first person account to what it is like to live as an HIV positive person (dealing with initial diagnosis, stigma, medication adherence and side effects, other health complications)

•             Q&A

•             Visual demonstration that depicts how HIV is passed by sharing fluids:

•            Demonstration clearly shows that a person cannot “see” HIV, or know if a person is infected by appearance alone.  HIV is an equal opportunity infection