Text produced by Mariana Albuquerque, a journalism graduate student at IDP.
For the most part, I realized how important it is to discuss the topic with professionals, who demystify the infection and explain how the disease actually works. When talking to some people about it, I noticed that most people have prejudice and fear, which reinforces the point that talking about HIV is extremely important.
When talking to Lucian, he told me that he felt like killing himself when he found out he was HIV positive, that he was ashamed of it, and that he had been hiding it for a long time. The answer is far from being to take one's own life, but the way I've always heard Cazuza's story is told made me believe that the virus leaves a person dying, just waiting for their last day of life.
Discussions about preventive methods and how they don't guarantee much are highlighting an imminent need for sexually active people in the 21st century: more effective medications and condoms. It also brings to light the low visibility of sex between women and the lack of methods to prevent HIV infection. Disseminating information about methods like PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis) and PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis), methods that work to prevent HIV and are provided by the Brazilian public health system (SUS) throughout the country, is crucial. All these new strategies should be seen and considered as options within the range of strategies we now call combined HIV prevention.
Contrary to the debate on prevention, we have today the discourse of the Brazilian head of state – in which a number of people believe – that sexual abstinence is a form of prevention against STIs. Echoing this belief are those who distrust sex education in schools and who see the debate as a form of premature sexualization. Undoubtedly, then, we have the internet and the media as educational and awareness tools for STIs.
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