Prevention for women in high-risk groups

AIDS is an important public health and social hot issue of global concern. Especially now, the prevention and treatment of AIDS has been raised to a political level and has become global awareness. With the focus on the development of AIDS, the topic of women in the field of AIDS has also been put on the agenda. According to the latest statistics released by the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, by the end of 2002, women accounted for 50% of the total number of infected people, of which 60% were women aged 15 to 24 years old. Women are 2 to 4 times more likely to be infected with HIV than men. AIDS has posed a serious threat to women's health, and people have to pay attention to which women are at high risk of AIDS.

Mother-to-child transmission, prostitution, blood selling, sexual promiscuity, drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases are the main ways for women to contract and spread AIDS. Mother-to-child transmission is still a route of transmission unique to women. Women selling blood may be at risk of contracting AIDS

Many of the blood sellers are women, mostly because of poverty or to accumulate drug money for drug use. In poor areas, blood collection is sometimes illegal, which brings the hidden danger of blood sellers using syringes with others or multiple people; selling blood also reduces women's physical fitness. Once infected with HIV, the immune system They will be even more vulnerable, their lives will be threatened, and they will become a vector of AIDS.

The out-of-control spread of AIDS through blood channels has cost us a heavy price. Rectification of the blood market is urgent and must be taken seriously.

Prevention of AIDS transmitted through blood

(1) Do not try to take drugs. People who are already addicted to drugs must quit drugs. A survey shows that a high proportion of drug users use syringes, and intravenous drug injection is the most likely to cause HIV infection. Drug users readily accept intravenous drug use.

(2) When you must receive a blood transfusion, you must know in advance whether the blood source is safe. When the patient himself cannot do this, family members must pay attention to understanding the situation.

(3) Do not bring back blood products from abroad on your own, and do not inject blood products that can be used or not.

(4) Participate in voluntary blood donation and do not sell blood, let alone go to illegal underground blood collection points to sell blood.

(5) Understand whether your children receive one injection and one tube when receiving scheduled immunization injections. Whether it is a nursery school, kindergarten, or elementary school, it should be taken seriously. Inform sensible children not to receive vaccinations in which syringes or needles are shared among several people.

(6) When going to a hospital or clinic to receive tooth extraction or other oral treatments, injections, acupuncture treatments, etc., you must know whether the medical institution carefully implements disinfection measures. Treatments or examinations that are not strictly sterilized (such as endoscopy) should be refused.

(7) If the patient can be treated with medication, no injection will be given. Subcutaneous, intramuscular or intravenous injection should be avoided as much as possible.

(8) Do not go to barber shops or beauty salons where disinfection is not strict. If knives and needles used for haircuts and beauty treatments are not sterilized or not strictly sterilized, HIV may also be transmitted during shaving, ear piercing, and eyebrow tattooing.

(9) The pedicure knife in the bath must be thoroughly disinfected, otherwise it may also cause HIV infection. The temperature and humidity in the bathroom are suitable for the survival of HIV on blood-stained pedicure razors.

(10) Do not borrow electric razors and razors from each other, because shaving and shaving often cause minor abrasions to the cheek skin. People often cannot detect this small damage, but if you try to apply soapy water on your face after shaving, you will feel skin tingling to varying degrees, which indicates that there is epidermal damage.

(11) Each person must bring his own toothbrush for his own use. Bleeding often occurs when brushing your teeth. Bleeding is more when you have gingivitis, so it cannot be used exclusively.

(12) Don’t get tattoos. Penetrating the skin with a tattoo needle may cause HIV infection.

(13) When rescuing a bleeding casualty, try to prevent the blood from directly contaminating your skin, especially when you have a skin injury. Clothes and plastic sheets can be used to separate the wounded.

(14) Doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians must be careful not to injure their own skin with scalpels and injection needles when serving people with HIV or AIDS.

(15) In sports that may cause skin damage and bleeding due to violent collisions, you should know whether the opponent is infected with HIV.

(16) Don’t fight. Fights inevitably lead to bloodshed, which can lead to HIV infection.

(17) Strengthen popular education on blood transfusion-transmitted HIV among blood donors.

(18) Improve the self-protection awareness of blood donors and actively supervise the disinfection and aseptic operation measures of blood stations.

(19) Strengthen non-mobile blood supply and legal compliance education such as HIV antibody testing for blood donors before blood supply. The level of HIV infection among women has always been used as a measure of the prevalence of AIDS. HIV has become an epidemic among female drug users in my country. Drugs and AIDS have joined forces and are wreaking havoc among more and more women.

The cross-interaction between drug addicts and AIDS

(1) The cross-interaction between drug addicts and HIV-infected people.

Monitoring and survey reports show that most of the people infected with HIV in China are drug addicts. Taking 2001 as an example, drug users accounted for about 68% of the total number of HIV-infected people, mainly intravenous drug users. Their shared behavior of using syringes leads to the spread of HIV through blood.

(2) Women who take drugs have a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases. The majority of HIV-infected people are drug users, and the main target of drug users is young people. Young men and women who take drugs are in the stage of sexual initiation and exuberance, and their promiscuous behaviors make them susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases. The spread of sexually transmitted diseases also exists as an intermediary between drug abuse and AIDS. The number of people infected with sexually transmitted diseases in China has been increasing at an annual rate of 30% since the 1970s. According to incomplete statistics, 20% to 30% of drug addicts have sexually transmitted diseases, and the detection rate of sexually transmitted diseases among drug addicts is 21% to 21%. between 33%.

(3) The number of female drug users has nearly doubled in 10 years. Currently, female drug addicts account for about 20% of the total number of drug addicts nationwide, nearly double the number 10 years ago, and the number of female drug addicts is on the rise. Especially in the coastal area of ??Guangdong, female drug addicts account for more than 40% of the total number of drug addicts. The rise in drug abuse among women indicates an increase in the participation of young women in the economy. The number of women in prostitution is increasing. Escorts, bar girls, masseurs, and prostitutes in nightclubs often contract drug abuse first, and then contract sexually transmitted diseases during sexual promiscuity, and then become infected with AIDS. This makes AIDS among high-risk groups. Gradually spread to the general population becomes possible.

Women’s drug abuse brings serious social problems

As countries around the world pay more and more attention to the problem of drugs and AIDS, female drug abuse has begun to attract attention because of its particularity. The role that women play in society and the family determines that women's drug use will provide a wider space for the spread of AIDS and bring greater social harm. Professor Wu Zunyou from the AIDS Prevention and Control Center of the Ministry of Health conducted a research project on drug abuse, sexual promiscuity and HIV infection in China in 2000, and reviewed national and local literature on Chinese women's drug abuse in the past 10 years. It was found that the number of female drug addicts in China accounts for about 17% of the total number of drug addicts in my country. Taking into account the factors of under-reporting, it is estimated that the actual number of female drug abusers in my country at that time was about 1 million, and HIV was becoming popular among female drug abusers in China. The problem of drug abuse among women in China has attracted international attention. The United Nations Drug Enforcement Agency, UNAIDS and the National Narcotics Control Commission of China held a conference on "Social Consequences and Health Harms of Drug Abuse in Women" in Nanning. United Nations officials and experts met with Chinese experts and scholars to discuss the issue of women and drugs. were discussed.

Characteristics of Chinese women’s drug abuse and AIDS transmission

(1) The age of women taking drugs is becoming increasingly serious. At present, the vast majority of drug addicts in China are young and unmarried. According to an expert survey report from the Ministry of Health, the average age of female drug users is between 22 and 27 years old, which is 3 to 4 years younger than the average age of male drug users in the same area; their unmarried rate is between 41.7% and 73.7%. Due to long-term drug abuse and prostitution, the health of women who use drugs has been seriously damaged, and sexually transmitted diseases and infectious diseases are more common. Surveys show that the hepatitis C infection rate among drug-using women ranges from 8.3% to 79%, and the syphilis infection rate ranges from 1.4% to 29.2%. It is common for female drug users to "use prostitution to support drugs" and obtain high amounts of drug money through prostitution. This proportion is as high as 50%. The sexual behavior of HIV-infected women who use drugs is the most threatening factor in the AIDS epidemic in a region.

(2) It is difficult for women to quit taking drugs. Women's "using sex to support drugs" is a more covert way to obtain drug funds. Women have better pharmacological sensations of drugs than men, and are characterized by rapid addiction, good feeling, strong dependence, and difficulty in withdrawal; women are psychologically fragile and have poor endurance, and are more likely to fall into relapse; women are more susceptible to infection than men after abusing drugs. AIDS.

(3) Female drug addicts have higher sexual promiscuity than males. The spread of HIV among drug addicts to their sexual partners is also increasing, and about 41.7% to 55.9% of female drug addicts engage in prostitution. The syphilis infection rate in women is generally higher than that of local men. The proportion of drug addicts who have multiple sexual partners is also high. for male drug addicts. This results in the sexual behavior of HIV-infected female drug users having the greatest impact on the AIDS epidemic.

In addition, the proportion of women who take drugs who inject drugs ranges from 9.5% to 80.4%, and the proportion of women who inject drugs is 88.1%, making HIV infection through the blood an important way.

Preventive services for drug addicts

In order to curb the epidemic of drugs and AIDS, experts propose the establishment of a three-level prevention system: establishing a prevention publicity and education system for the public; establishing prevention services for vulnerable groups system; establish a care system for drug addicts and people living with HIV/AIDS. At the same time, a social support system is provided to women who take drugs, including medical care, psychological support, legal, economic, and employment support, so that women can stay away from drugs. At the same time, blood-borne education should be strengthened to make them deeply aware of the dangers of injecting drugs with syringes; education on drug detoxification and relapse prevention should be highlighted. Since AIDS was discovered in China, it has been mainly infected by blood transfusions and needles used by drug addicts. Recently, relevant researchers have discovered that among prostitutes and prostitutes, the number of HIV infections is rising rapidly.

In the HIV epidemic, prostitutes are undoubtedly a high-risk group at the forefront. The results of China's AIDS sentinel surveillance in 2000 showed that the HIV infection rates among prostitutes in Guangxi and Yunnan were 10.7% and 4.6% respectively. In this regard, Pan Suiming, a professor of sexual sociology at Renmin University of China, has put forward his own unique insights. He found from a nationwide random sample survey he conducted that 85% of the clients had sexual relations with other women in addition to prostitutes and wives, and each of them had an average of 8.1 other women. sexual partners. It is these men who spread HIV from prostitutes to other women. That is, men who have sexual relations with both prostitutes and other sexual partners are the first vectors of HIV transmission. It is they who connect prostitutes with ordinary people, and they are the main culprits in sexually transmitted AIDS.

Escort girls and some employees in special service industries (waiters in hotels, guesthouses, dance halls, bars, hair salons, saunas, massage parlors, roadside shops, etc.) are also high-risk groups for spreading STDs and AIDS. .

If AIDS prevention work is not done well, then these women are very likely to become intermediaries for the spread of AIDS, because they may have sexual relations with the same group.

Women in prostitution cannot protect their sexual health. Girls who are forced or trafficked into sex work, some even before puberty, generally lack awareness of the dangers of HIV and are unable to escape or take protective measures to protect themselves from HIV infection.

But not all prostitution is forced. For some women, prostitution is a choice, and while for many people engage in situational or long-term sex work as a way out of horrific poverty, the sex trade is a fundamental source of income for themselves and their children. Often, such women included women whose lives had been disrupted by war, or divorcees or widows who had lost their property because of unjust laws and customs. In many places, women in the sex trade do not know or are unable to protect themselves during the trade. If they ask for condoms, they may face the risk of violence or loss of income; only in the few places where the government has established "compulsory condom use" regulations, women in prostitution can use condoms to reduce some risk of infection.

Prostituted women are often a high-risk group for transmitting sexually transmitted diseases, and sexual promiscuity is an important way for the spread of AIDS.

Reasonable and effective educational measures should be taken for women in prostitution:

(1) Highlight women’s self-esteem and self-respect education, and provide them with employment opportunities when they have the desire to be good. .

(2) Education that highlights the serious harm to women caused by sexual indiscretion.

(3) Provide knowledge and education on the prevention of STDs and AIDS, such as: adding relevant public service advertisements in TV programs, placing condoms and AIDS promotional materials in the rooms of major hotels and motels, etc. .

(4) Free condoms are distributed. Although this issue is still controversial, from a prevention perspective, it is necessary. Multiple sexual partners is a high-risk behavior for HIV infection

Sexual promiscuity means that sexual partners are not specific. This is a high-risk behavior that can easily lead to HIV infection. People who participate in promiscuous activities often have sexual relations with multiple people, most of whom may be infected with STDs or even HIV. Therefore, the more people you have sex with, the more likely you are to contract STDs and AIDS. Most people do not feel any discomfort after being infected with HIV, and it can only be discovered through testing. However, people often do not consciously realize that they should go to the local Center for Disease Control and Prevention or hospital for testing. It is possible that antibodies cannot be detected, which makes HIV infection more hidden.

Sex is safe when both partners are legally HIV-infected and are faithful to each other in their sexual relationship. But before marriage, even sexual relations between love partners are not safe, because love relationships are not bound by law, and the binding force of morality on the behavior of lovers is limited. If sex occurs during the relationship, the love partner It is also unfocused and unstable. No matter whether you are in love with several people one after another or at the same time, you have sexual relations. This actually leads to sexual promiscuity, not to mention those men and women who have no romantic relationship before marriage.

Having sex with multiple partners during the same period is a high-risk factor for HIV infection, and the number of sexual partners is one of the important indicators for estimating the potential prevalence of HIV among young people. one. Some foreign scholars studied the sexual partners of a male AIDS patient who had sexual relations with an average of 20 to 30 women every year and found that among the 16 women who had sexual contact with this man, 10 were infected with HIV. 3 people had only had sexual intercourse with the patient once; 8 of the infected people had typical or atypical symptoms of AIDS. Experts once conducted a survey on 800 people in 4 cities including New York, where AIDS is highly prevalent. The survey subjects were divided into two groups. One group had only maintained sexual relations with the same sex partner in the past 5 years, and the other group had at least 6 sexual partners in the past 5 years. Personal companion. The results showed that the HIV positive rate was only 0.25% in the former group, and reached 6% in the latter group, which was 24 times that of the former group.

Generally speaking, compared with other diseases, including compared with other types of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV is actually difficult to transmit. A survey by American scientists found that if a man who has been infected with HIV has unprotected sexual intercourse with a woman, he will pass HIV to the woman once in 500 sexual intercourses. The chances of female-to-male transmission are smaller during this type of vaginal intercourse. Although some young people only have sexual relations with one person at a time, if they maintain such sexual relations with multiple people, they will unknowingly fall into dangerous situations. In this kind of one-on-one sexual contact, the awareness of self-protection (such as using condoms) fades. Since there is always the possibility that a person's sexual partner may not always be the only one with whom he or she has a sexual relationship, the risk of contracting HIV also always exists.

Open sexual concepts lead to an increase in the probability of HIV infection

A recent questionnaire survey conducted by the All-China Women’s Federation on 2,400 women showed that in recent years, with the changes in people’s sexual concepts and behaviors There has been an increase in premarital and extramarital sex and multiple sexual partners. The phenomenon of changes in sexual concepts and behaviors among young women is very prominent. Among those surveyed, 1.73% had other sexual partners besides their husbands. However, the report also pointed out that since the survey involves personal privacy, there will be some refusals and concealment of answers, so it is estimated that the actual situation of extramarital sex is higher than the survey results. A questionnaire survey among college students in Beijing showed that 10.2% of college students had premarital sex. In line with this, a survey conducted by the Guangdong Provincial Family Planning Research Institute shows that premarital sex is very common among unmarried young foreign women in Guangzhou, with about 50% of female factory workers and 80% in the service industry. There are also many phenomena of sexual partners.

Being open and multiple about sexual matters does not necessarily increase the probability of HIV infection, but along with unsafe sexual behavior, this possibility becomes a reality.

In the second type of HIV/AIDS epidemic areas (mainly Africa, the Caribbean and some areas in South America), multiple sexual partners are encouraged, and the husband's extramarital sexual relations and polygamy are culturally acceptable. . In addition, the requirement for women to have children in arranged marriages has led to marital disharmony, further aggravating the emergence of extramarital sexual relations. Due to the excessive emphasis on fertility, women may also become pregnant through extramarital sexual relations, which makes extramarital sexual relations and multiple sexual partners inevitable.

In the third category of HIV-AIDS epidemic areas (including Asia, the Pacific region except Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and some rural areas in South America), the earlier age of divorce in recent years has led to extramarital sexual partners. increase.

Prevention of AIDS among sexually promiscuous people

In areas where AIDS is second and third type prevalent, gender differences in sexual relations between men and women are obstacles to reducing high-risk sexual behaviors. Eliminating this disparity is not an easy task, and its ultimate achievement lies in changing the norms of society as a whole and improving the status of women. In the trend of free love, some people are not bound by traditional morals at all and do not assume any responsibility for their sexual behavior. The focus of intervening in this dangerous behavior should be to let young people understand the importance of maintaining sexual relationships with multiple people. dangers, and advise them to use condoms every time they have sex, and at the same time advocate for women to protect themselves.

Relatively speaking, floating population, sexually transmitted disease patients, prostitutes, clients, and people in labor camps are currently high-risk groups prone to sexual promiscuity, and should be the focus of prevention and education. The sexual problems of the floating population (including tourists, migrant workers, sailors, overseas laborers, truck drivers, and factory and mine workers) have become a hidden danger in the AIDS epidemic. Generally, their sexual partners are unstable and they are unwilling to use condoms, so they often The risk of sexual transmission is even greater. Once infected, it will spread to more than a small circle, so their education is particularly important. The probability of STD patients, prostitutes, and clients being infected or infected with STDs is even higher than that of the general population.

The following preventive education should be adopted for the floating population:

(1) Family safety education. It is clear that an individual's HIV infection will bring misfortune to the entire family.

(2) Education on the correct use of condoms.

(3) Sexual health education for seafarers and overseas workers, highlighting the harmlessness of abstinence and the harmlessness of masturbation.

Preventive education for prostitutes, clients and personnel in labor camps:

(1) Women’s reproductive health education for prostitutes and young female labor camp and labor reform personnel.

(2) Clients of prostitutes are easily infected with AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, which endangers themselves and the education of their families.