Living with HIV
HIVHIVA virus (human immunodeficiency virus) that affects the natural immune system. When someone…Read more treatmentTreatmentCare and/or follow-up by a professionally trained person. Treatment can be given with…Read more
If you correctly take your medicines every day, you can lead a normal life and live just as long as someone without HIV.
Take your medicines the way the HIV counsellor tells you to. Talk to your HIV counsellor about the best medicines for you.
If you are not treated, you can infect other people through unprotected sexSexAll acts that can sexually arouse you. Sex is more than sexual intercourse.…Read more or your bloodBloodRed fluid that has important functions in the body, for example: carrying oxygen…Read more. You can infect your baby during pregnancyPregnancyThe time when a woman is expecting a baby. The pregnancy begins when…Read more or deliveryDeliveryThe process of giving birth to a baby.Read more or when breast-feedingBreast-feedingA woman can breast-feed her baby with milk from her own breast, rather…Read more. With the right treatment, women with HIV can still have children without HIV.
Man taking HIV medicines.
Healthy lifestyle
Take care of your healthHealthFeeling physically, mentally and socially well in your environment. Health is more than…Read more:
- Eat healthily. This improves your resistance to diseases.
- Take exercise.
- Keep cigarettes, drugs and alcohol to a minimum.
- Get enough rest at night. It will reduce stress.
Eat healthily.
Take exercise.
Keep cigarettes, drugs and alcohol to a minimum.
Get enough rest at night.
Social contact
You cannot infect someone through social contact. You do not have to be afraid for infectionInfectionInfection occurs when a germ enters the body and causes damage. A germ…Read more if, for example, you share a glass or plate with someone or if you touch someone or give a kiss or a French kissFrench kissA kiss given with an open mouth. The partners' tongues touch and move…Read more.
No HIV transmission: sharing a glass or plate
No HIV transmission: touching or shaking hands
No HIV infection: kissing each other or giving a French kiss
No longer any riskRiskPossibility that something unpleasant may happen, for example a disease.Read more of infection
If you take your medicines correctly every day, the amount of HIV in your blood (viral loadViral loadAmount of HIV in the blood. If the viral load is high, HIV…Read more) will reduce. After a few months, it can often no longer be traced, though the virusVirusVery small particle that can invade the body. It multiplies easily in the…Read more is still in your body. Then you will no longer be able to infectTo infectTo pass on a disease (infection) to someone, for example through sexual contact.Read more someone else with HIV.
You can have sexSexThe biological fact of being a woman (girl) or a man (boy). Sometimes,…Read more without a condom with a partnerPartnerPerson you are in a relationship with.Read more who does not have HIV:
- If you take your HIV medicines correctly every day, and
- If, for at least 6 months, your viral load can no longer be detected, and
- If your viral load was checked less than 6 months ago;
- If you and your partner have no other STISTISTI means sexually transmitted infection: an infection that is usually only transmitted by…Read more.
Talk to the HIV counsellor and your partner if you want to have sex without a condomCondomCovering of thin rubber that a man wears over his erect penis. A…Read more.
Couple talking.
Telling someone you have HIV
Living with HIV is not always easy. It might help if you talk with someone about HIV. You are not obliged to tell people you have HIV.