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The Banyan Tree
is indigenous to the Asian continent and is a symbol of inner peace and
harmony. Its large branches have provided shelter and its deep roots have
provided support to travelers and immigrants for thousands of years.
Through our Banyan Tree Project, we hope to extend the same support and
comfort to persons living with HIV/AIDS as well as provide the most accurate
facts about the epidemic, eliminate the stigma and taboos, and team up to
prevent it from spreading.
What is HIV? What is AIDS?
AIDS is caused by HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency
Virus, which damages the body's defense system. AIDS is the last stage of
HIV disease. People who have AIDS become weaker, because their bodies lose
the ability to fight all illnesses. When this happens, people with AIDS are
vulnerable to other diseases, including rare types of cancer and pneumonia,
Hepatitis, and infections that do not threaten people whose immune systems
are healthy. There is no cure for HIV/AIDS, although new drug therapies can
help a person stay healthier for longer periods of time, but the person will
still have HIV and be able to transmit HIV.
The onset of AIDS can take up to ten years from the
time of infection with the HIV virus. Therefore a person infected with HIV
may look and feel healthy for many years, but he or she can transmit the
virus to someone else.
How is HIV Transmitted?
HIV is transmitted through the exchange of any
HIV-infected bodily fluids. Transfer may occur during all stages of the
infection/disease. Even if infected person looks and feels perfectly healthy
they can still transmit the virus.
The HIV virus is found in the following fluids: blood, semen including
pre-ejaculated fluid, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. HIV is most
frequently transmitted sexually. That is because fluids mix and the virus
can be exchanged, especially where there are tears in vaginal or anal
tissue, wounds or other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
Girls are especially vulnerable to HIV infection
because their vaginal membranes are thinner and more susceptible to
infection than those of mature women.
HIV can also be transmitted when the skin is cut or
pierced using an unsterilized needle, syringe, razorblade, knife or any
other tool. People who share syringes when injecting themselves with drugs
or have sex with drug users are at high risk of becoming infected with
HIV/AIDS. Moreover, drug use alters people's judgment and can lead to risky
sexual behavior, such as not using condoms.
HIV & STDs
People who have Sexually Transmitted Diseases
(STDs) are at greater risk of being infected with HIV/AIDS and of
transmitting their infection to others. They are more likely to practice
unsafe sex behaviors. Some symptoms of STDs include open sores in the mouth
or genitals, which increase the risk of infected fluids to enter the body.
People with STDs should seek treatment promptly and avoid sexual intercourse
or practice safer sex (non-penetrative sex or sex using a condom), avoid
body fluid contact or exchange, and inform their partners.
How Does Substance Abuse Increase the Risk of HIV
Infection?
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Free vs. Addicted:
In the mind of
an addicted person, there are limited choices, limited options for
success, which will affect their careers or jobs, and relationships.
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Aware vs. Intoxicated:
A person under the
influence of drugs can get seriously hurt and ripped off, make
really poor choices that result in consequences that cannot be reversed,
like not using a condom or being unaware of your partner's status.
High-risk behaviors like injecting drugs will increase high risk behaviors
such as sharing needles. We can't really count on anyone to look after us
if we have altered state of mind.
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Healthy vs. Sick: Addictions make
us more susceptible to illness and symptoms of fatigue, hangovers, etc.
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Longer Life vs. Shortened Life: Higher
risk of premature accidental death and exposure to devastating or fatal
diseases i.e. HIV and some STDs.
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Defensive Behavior vs. Risky Behavior:
Addictive behavior sets us up in risky situations, not the exciting great
ending kind but the dangerous get-really-hurt kind.
How Can I Prevent HIV?
The most effective way to prevent the sexual
transmission of HIV is by practicing abstinence, limiting to one partner,
and avoiding body fluids exchange.
The risk of sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS can be
reduced by the following:
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If uninfected partners have sex only with each other
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If
people have safer sex - sex without penetration or using a condom or latex
barrier every time.
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If
people never share or use dirty needles for any purpose including
injection of any drugs, tattoos or piercing.
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Infected mothers should not nurse, since breast milk can transmit
the virus to babies.
HIV is Not transmitted by:
Nor is it spread by playing with, or studying next
to, someone who has AIDS or is infected with HIV. Children and teens with
HIV infection have the right to attend school.
Human Rights
Discriminating against people who are infected with
HIV/AIDS or anyone thought to be at risk of infection violates individual
human rights and endangers public health.
Everyone infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS deserves compassion and
support.
All About Testing
Anyone who suspects that he or she might have been
infected with HIV should contact a health care worker or an HIV/AIDS center
in order to receive confidential or anonymous counseling and
testing. Counseling should always come before and after a test.
Confidential means the clinic will have your name
and contact information but will not disclose it to anyone. Anonymous means
the clinic will never know your name or contact information. The test is
tracked by numbers and no names are given. You will contact them when you
are ready for the test results or other services.
There are tests that can tell if a person has been
exposed to HIV. The local health department and other agencies can make
referrals to a testing site including:
Asian Human
Services
4753 N Broadway
Suite 722
Chicago, IL
60640
Telephone:
773-293-8460
Reasons to Get Tested
Take control of your health. You can take steps to
protect your partner from infection. Get treatment so you can live longer,
perhaps to the time when a cure for AIDS is found. If you know you are
infected you can make choices to stay in the U.S. where we can help you
access to medical treatment.
AIDS is not a disease reserved for Gay White Men, Poor Sex Workers or Drug
Users. Currently more than half of 36,000,000 people living with HIV are
heterosexual women, men and children. Everyone is at risk. Some think there
is a cure for AIDS. There is no cure for HIV/AIDS, but it doesn't mean that
you cannot live a healthy life.
Testing is important to prolong the asymptomatic period; if a person is
tested HIV positive, he/she can take the necessary steps of treatment to
prolong this period. No one is immune to HIV/AIDS if he/she engages in risky
behaviors. It is a myth that Asians are immune to HIV because "good families
don't get it" or "Asian culture is a good culture."
Possible Debate Starters
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How do you feel about condom distribution in schools? Colleges?
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Should drug users be given clean needles?
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Who is responsible to obtain and have the knowledge on prevention
information (i.e. condoms)?
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Do you talk to your children/parents about HIV/AIDS? Sex?
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Do you feel that you may be at risk?
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Do you feel that your kids/parents may be at risk?
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What do you think is the best way to prevent the spread of HIV?
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Do people who are HIV-positive have only themselves to blame?
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Should HIV-positive people be quarantined?
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Something about prostitutes...whose decision is it to have protected sex?
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Why do people get HIV? (Poor decision-making? Peer pressure? Power
dynamics)
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Will you discuss sex with your children when you have a family one day?
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Does a girl who is forced into the commercial sex industry by poverty, for
instance, possess the power of self-determinism necessary to negotiate
protected sexual intercourse with paid clients in order to prevent HIV
transmission?
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Does an HIV-positive common laborer, who lives in your home country and
lost his job because of disease-related discrimination, have the ability
to purchase extraordinarily expensive anti-retroviral therapies?
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If your friend told you that they were HIV-positive, how would you react?
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Can you control HIV by making testing mandatory? (Control HIV by
prevention)
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Should HIV-positive people be allowed to get married? (actual law)
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Should HIV-positive people be allowed to have children?
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Are sex workers and drug users responsible for the spread of AIDS?
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Should safer sex be taught to all young people in universities/ colleges/
schools?
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Should a person be required to inform others about their HIV-positive
status (work, school)?
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Is it justifiable for hospitals to turn away patients who are infected
with HIV?
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As long as you avoid talking about it, you won’t get it. If you talk about
reproductive health, does it make people more amorous?
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Only low class people/bad types of people in society get AIDS. Is it time
to break the silence about forced sex/date rape in our community?
Trust, Power and Consent
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No one tells me what to do.
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It’s nobody’s business.
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Oh, I never do that.
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I have no choice. He's my husband/boyfriend/partner.
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I trust him/her. He/she loves me. We're not seeing anyone else.
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He's much older and he makes me feel mature.
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It won’t happen to me.
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If I don't agree, he'll send me back home. I can't do that.
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If I don’t talk about it, it will never happen.
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Techniques for negotiating -What part of “No” don’t you understand!
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A compromising/dangerous /tempting situation is called that for a reason!
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Setting boundaries. So, why don’t we try this/go there instead?
If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything! Know the
facts. Make your own decision.
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