Life Guide #2: How Do We Stop HIV?

Mar 5, 2008 | Filed in Life Guide | 3 Comments

The newest entry of my column for Out & About Newspaper has been published. The article deals with the topic of how to stop the increasing rates of HIV infection, particularly with younger gay men.

Here was the reader submitted question:

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Hi Nathan,

I’m a 50 year old gay man that has been HIV+ for over 22 years and I’m alarmed at the news reports that I read about the rises in new HIV infection rates/diagnoses around the world. I know these stories are not fabrications to scare people as I have worked within the HIV/AIDS Service sector as a gay men’s health advisor and I know these statistics to be a reality.

There are lot of reports recently about rises in new HIV infections especially in young gay men; what, if anything, do you think it will take to get this whole new generation of young vibrant gay men to listen to these reports and as a result of that listening getting them to:

1) focusing a little more on their well being by having regular sexual health check-ups (at least once a year) which will include testing for all STI’s (Sexually Transmitted Infections) not just HIV

2) start wearing condoms and learning how to make using condoms sexy and fun even if they feel that using them lessens the pleasure of intimacy or that they ruin the heat of the moment and

3) learn how to negotiate the disclosure of their sero-status with their sexual partners and hopefully at the same time also find out the sero-status of their partners so as to negotiate safer sex practices. Hopefully by addressing these few points we just might be able to make a small dent in this growing rise in new HIV infections?

Read My Response Here

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About Nathan

I'm a happily married gay man, self employed as a website designer, writing about my life and the world as I see it.
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