Basics of HIV Flashcards
Harm Reduction
anything that reduces the risk of injury whether or not the individual is able to abstain from the risky behavior. Harm reduction is any program or policy designed to reduce drug-related harm without requiring the cessation of drug use
Evidence Based Harm Reduction Model Strategies
- Low threshold support services
- Needle syringe/safer inhalation programs
- Overdose prevention/Naloxone
- Housing First Models
- Hepatitis C Treatment
- Methadone maintenance treatment
- Supervised consumption facilities/Wet Shelter
- Prescribed heroin treatment
- Proactive law enforcement/Decriminalization
Supervised consumption facilities have four (4) main goals:
- To reduce spread of infectious diseases (HIV and hepatitis C);
- To reduce the number of drug overdose deaths;
- To bring people who inject drugs into contact with other health and social and treatment services; and,
- To reduce issues in the community such as drug use in public places, and discarded needles.
What is HIV?
Human Immunodeficiency VIRUS
Human= does not affect animals, does not live outside of the human body
What is AIDS?
AIDS is a syndrome, considered to be a medical/clinical stage of HIV.
- You can't catch aids, but you can catch HIV- one stage of AIDS - Must acquire from someone HIV+ - High viral load- a lot in the body (can be low or undetectable- can't transfer) - Secondary infection: flu, bronchitis, pneumonia
Viral load
- high= many copies
- low = few copies
- undetectable = so few copies it’s hard to find on current tests
Acquisition of HIV
- Blood, breast milk, semen, vaginal fluid, anal fluid (not in tears, saliva, urine, sweat)
- These fluids have to enter your blood stream
AIDS coming into contact with a cut is a low risk
- These fluids have to enter your blood stream
Modes of acquisition
- condom-less sex
- vertical transmission (babies)
- injection drugs
- non-sterile tattoos/piercings
- blood products (prior to 1992)
Symptoms
- flu-like fever
- loss of appetite
- sore throat
- swollen lymph nodes
- **not everyone experiences symptoms! Need tests to be sure
Canada Stats
21% of Canadians living with HIV don’t know it.*
75,000 Canadians live with HIV.
London Stats
- 61 New HIV cases diagnosed in 2016
- Approximately 70% attributed to the “Injection Drug Use” category
- Hepatitis C: 231 cases reported in 2016
- Endocarditis: a significant concern with case-fatality rate in the range of 30-40%
Who’s most at risk?
- men who have sex with men
- african/carribean people
- at risk women
- people who use injection drugs
- indigenous people
Social Determinents
- Housing
- Security
- Sexual Orientation
- Gender Inequality + Misogyny
- Social Support Networks
- Poverty
- Racism + Discrimination
- Childhood Abuse
- Cultural Norms
- Education + Skills
- Access to Healthcare
- Immigration Status
- Gender-based Violence
- Poverty
Sex worker HIV risk
– hard-to-reach population. Estimates range from 1% to 60%.
– three main categories: high risk sex or sex with high risk partners, illicit drug use, and unstable living and working environments.
Universal Risk Factors
- Violence
- Criminalization
- Stigma and Discrimination
- Lack of Programs and Funding
