Surviving the holidays in safe-sex-style means HIV mentions are a must
Kim Johnson
2 December 2011
This week the Sowetan featured an article detailing how to survive the festive season safe-sex-style.
Given that protecting oneself against HIV is a major safe sex priority in South Africa (one only has to look to the most recent statistics released by the Department of Health on Wednesday), any safe sex guide should - along with other issues like unplanned pregnancy and STIs - zero in on HIV and how it can be prevented.
The article begins by drawing parallels between unsafe sex and the excessive alcohol consumption that is more likely to happen when people are letting their hair down over the festive season.
And while the links between a few-too-many and unsafe sex are well documented, the ‘how-to’ (or how-not-to) list, which accompanies the piece, covers everything but the risk of HIV and how to prevent it.
Given South Africa’s inordinately high HIV prevalence (and incidence) one would think that in mentioning condoms the Sowetan would emphasise their efficacy in preventing pregnancy and HIV, but this stone is left unturned.
While it might seem obvious that the answer to HIV-prevention is to ‘condomise’, there is the lesser-known post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) that the Sowetan also fails to mention.
PEP involves giving an HIV-negative person, who might have been exposed to HIV, ARVs which can kill the HI-virus before it has the opportunity to take root in the system. Including PEP as part of a safe sex and HIV-prevention ‘how-to guide’ is essential, especially considering South Africa’s sky-high rape statistics.
Providing information about where one can access PEP in the event of sexual assault or even through exposure resulting from unprotected but consensual sex, would have added more informative value to this safe sex guide.
While nobody wants to think about the potential fun-spoilers like HIV during their long-anticipated holiday, it is important that during times when greater risk taking is likely, that attempts to mitigate the negative effects are solid and comprehensive.
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