Facts About HIV/AIDS from the Roadside Clinic

• It is important to know your status i.e. whether you are HIV positive or not. If you are HIV positive you can then provide your body with food, nutrients or supplements as well as appropriate medication to boost your immune system.

• The moment you suspect or feel uneasy about your status you must get an HIV test so that your fears maybe or may not be confirmed and appropriate action taken to keep your immune system strong while you still have the chance. In that way you can live longer. You cannot protect yourself from diseases, sicknesses and ailments if your immune system is weak due to the fact that you have developed full blown AIDS.

• After finding out that you are HIV positive, you are encouraged to stop smoking and drinking alcohol because bad habits pollute the blood, deprive it of oxygen and make it weak and susceptible to illnesses.

• If you are HIV positive you must practice safe sex because if you accumulate more HIV in your blood from another infected person, you are increasing your chances of dying earlier.

• Eat well. E.g. porridge and milk, vegetables and fruit, fruit juice (not fizzy drinks), and meat.

• Do regular physical exercises to keep the body strong and healthy;

• Keep the body warm because if it is cold it will not have the power to fight diseases.

• Socialize or mix with people in order to avoid brooding, cursing and criticizing yourself or others.

• It is important to develop a healthy mental attitude and tell yourself that you will live normally like before with the virus in your body.

• Being sad weakens the body and it is easy to become sick when you are always unhappy.

• Try to be cheerful, happy or jovial in order to keep your blood circulation healthy and without clots in your blood vessels.

• Anger, bad moods and prolonged depression pollute the blood and they do not contribute to good health.

• Undergo blood tests at least twice during the window period if you suspect that you may be HIV positive. The window period is generally accepted as being 40 days after contact, although the USA Food and Drug Administration recommends testing for up to 3 months after contact.

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