SEXUAL HEALTH EDUCATION-ESSENTIAL FOR THE PREVENTION OF STD AND HIV/AIDS.
Now more than ever it is important to explore the strategies for prevention of STD's with the AIDS pandemic, a patient with and STD may have acquired HIV infection or may get HIV infection in the future. Therefore, treatment alone is not sufficient and health education to prevent sexually transmitted diseases is of paramount importance. This will entail discussion on sex and sexuality from doctor to patients, from parent to child and from teacher to students.
Communicating about STD's is extremely difficult as it is necessary to discuss sexual practices, a topic may people in our culture rather be left alone, and bring communication to a very personnel less to be effective. In order to prevent STD and the spread of HIV infection, it is mandated for individuals to change entail choosing not to have many partners or as to use condoms.
SOCIAL ASPECTS
STD's are with us for long. The risk factor for contracting a STD is having many sexual partners, or to have a partner who has many sexual partners. Although anyone can get a STD, certain groups of individuals are more prone due to their life style and social or economic and environmental circumstances. This may include:
- Migrant workers who live away from their families;
- Men who travel as a part of their job;
- Those who resort to sell sex for financial reasons;
- Armed force personnel who are posted away from their families.
- The clients of CSW coming from the society from among about 20 categories of population of reproductive age can be mapped as follows.
- The CSW themselves women and virgins & children trafficked.
ROUTE & RANGE OF TRANMISSION OF STD/HIV/AIDS IN BANGLADESH
CSW at located places
CSW at Hotel & Residential place, Rest houses, Bungalow etc.
CSW floating on Road side/High ways etc.
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Clients- Identifiable : Truckers, Drivers, Long Distant workers etc.
Unidentifiable : A Numbers of population from about 20
categories of the society.
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Wives and other : Infected by the husbands or irregular partner
irregular partners who happen to receive transmission
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Children : Infected by mothers during pregnancy, after
pregnancy during breast feeding.
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A good number of such women & children are vulnerable due to being
infected without being a party to the sex working and in addressing
them. The whole population need be covered in message giving.
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- The clients receiving infection from CSW or other irregular partners transmit it to the wives & from wives to children. This vicious circle is causing infection on daily basis until they are not equipped with prevention practices.
- Beyond the CSW at located places, a large number CSW disguised in sex trade are also living around the society with the risk behavior and vulnerability. This group can hardly be identified. So, mass thrust of message giving is essential for which the OSDUY is distributing AIDS-Okal Mrityu
- The infected wives and children have to bear the risk to STD and HIV both without a party to the sex net working.
- Absistance or a mutually faithful relationship with one life long partner are very effective in preventing STD and AIDS. For health education approaches to work grow addiction to sex networking and the approach must be more practical. There is proven evidence that those who have STD will not easily change behavior and they shall have to be convinced to have the condom and to seek proper treatment for their STD's. In an era of HIV/AIDS practical messages and approaches are essential.
- If everybody from everywhere is not self-prevented and self guarded, it may not be possible to prevent anywhere and it will continue to spread endlessly.
- So practical message on STD/HIV and AIDS should be brought home to everyone of reproductive age and everyone shall have to be convinced that it is in their own interest that they should follow the safe practices to save himself, his wife and to protect the child and everyone should be in search of a decent and STD free reproductive track body.
- If we are really aware of our job, our task will be to communicate the practical messages of STD/AIDS prevention for self-prevention of them for ends of nationwide safety. A thrust of message therapy should be delivered at every nook and corner of the society with counseling & feed-back so as to make the whole nation stand safe guarded against STD and AIDS and to prove that man is not powerless against these pandemic.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STD AND HIV INFECTION IS THREE FOLDS :
FIRSTLY:
STD and HIV infection are associated with the same risk behavior that is unprotected sexual intercourse with multiple partners. Thus, the same measures that prevent STD also prevent sexual transmission of HIV infection.
SECONDLY:
the presence of STD has to be found to facilitate the acquisition and transmission of HIV infection. A 10 fold increased risk for HIV transmission has been associated with diseases that cause genital ulcers, such as syphilis, Chan chord and herpes. The risk associated with diseases causing discharge especially gonorrhea, Chlamydial infection and trachomonosis, is upto 4 fold. Thus, early diagnosis and effective treatment of STD can contribute significantly to a reduction in HIV transmission.
THIRDLY:
there is mounting evidence that some STD pathogens are more virulent in the presence of HIV related immune-deficiency which may have consequences for treatment recommendation for STD.
Although counseling of individual patients on risk reduction and prevention of transmission to partners should be done with all STD patients, this is of vital importance for these infected with HIV and for these who are not infected with STD and HIV of reproductive age of the country for ends of keeping the nation AIDS free.
