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What is World AIDS Day?
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The Red Ribbon
The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness. It is worn by people all year round, and particularly around World AIDS Day, to demonstrate their support for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS.
It is also a symbol of commitment to challenge the stigma and prejudice surrounding HIV/AIDS.
The red ribbon is the international symbol of HIV and AIDS awareness and was conceived more than 17 years ago by a group of artists in New York called "Visual AIDS Artists Caucus".
The artists sought to create an awareness-raising symbol – an image which would be simple yet bold, able to make an impact wherever it was seen.
Why a red ribbon?
Red was chosen for the HIV/AIDS awareness ribbon to symbolise blood, danger and the idea of passion – including love and anger, while the tails of the ribbon were designed to point down to symbolise life flowing away.
Show your support
All Australians are encouraged to wear a red ribbon during AIDS Awareness Week and on World AIDS Day.
The red ribbon is a simple way in which we can declare our support for those living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. It is a symbol of the memory of those who have died and support for those who continue to live with HIV/AIDS.
The red ribbon also helps fund support services for people living with HIV/AIDS. All the funds raised through the sale of red ribbons during AIDS Awareness Week and World AIDS Day go towards the provision of HIV/AIDS related medical and counselling services, and support and peer education groups.
Awareness and prevention go hand in hand. Help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS by making the red ribbon visible and get people talking about HIV/AIDS.
Red ribbons are available from selected retail outlets throughout South Australia.
To find out where to purchase a red ribbon in your area, contact the AIDS Council of South Australia on 8334 1609.
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HIV / AIDS
What is HIV?
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus damages a person’s immune system and, if untreated, is the virus that can cause AIDS. If you have been infected with HIV you are said to be HIV-positive.
What is AIDS?
AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS is not one disease but rather a group or combination of illnesses that develop because the body can no longer fight disease as it normally would. Once in the blood, HIV attacks and slowly destroys the immune system, the system in your body that fights infection and disease. Over a period of time (often many years), the immune system becomes weaker. Only when an HIV-positive person is diagnosed with one or more of these illnesses is he or she said to have AIDS.
How is HIV transmitted?
HIV is found in body fluids such as blood, semen and pre-seminal fluids, fluids in the vagina and anus and breast milk. Infection with HIV can only occur when one or more of these body fluids from an infected person enters the bloodstream of another person.
HIV can only be transmitted in the following ways:
- unprotected sex
- sharing needles, syringes and other equipment for injecting drugs, body piercing or tattooing
- mother to child (also called vertical transmission)
- blood transfusions and/or blood products
(however the blood supply in Australia has been safe since 1985)
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HIV Testing
What is a HIV test?
There’s a few different ways to test for HIV but the most common ones use a blood test which identify whether or not antibodies are present in a person’s blood. Antibodies are the cells your body makes to defend itself against bacteria and viruses like HIV. Most people’s bodies take only a few weeks to respond to HIV by making these antibodies, however some people’s response can take up to 3 months. It is important when testing for HIV, that if a person’s body may not have had time to respond to the HIV, that they take another HIV test after 3 months so their body can have time to respond and for the test to be accurate.
Who should test for HIV?
Anyone should test for HIV if they answer yes to any of the following questions:
- Have you had unprotected sex with anyone?
- Have you shared injecting equipment with anyone?
Having unprotected sex, that is sex without a condom, or sharing injecting equipment is the most common ways HIV is transmitted in Australia. If anyone answers yes to either of these questions, they could have been exposed to HIV and should get a test at your local GP.
What does it mean to test positive for HIV?
If someone tests positive for HIV then they have been exposed to the virus and it is present in their immune system. Being HIV positive can have serious complications to a person’s health, however it is not a death sentence for the majority of people with access to treatment. There are a number of treatments and healthy living options available now in Australia that can help people living with HIV to live long and healthy lives.
What does it mean to test negative for HIV?
If a person tests negative for HIV this means that HIV is not present in their immune system if the following conditions are met:
- the HIV test was administered after their body could respond to the virus (not administered within 3 months after their exposure to HIV)
- the person has not been exposed to HIV since being tested
A life free of HIV can almost always be maintained from that point on, by following some simple precautions:
- when having sex with ANYONE always do so with condoms and lubricant
- if using injecting equipment, never share any of the injecting equipment with anyone else
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