Organ donation can be hard to talk about.
There could be a feeling that you are “tempting fate”, or maybe death is just
something no one wants to contemplate. This reluctance to have an open
discussion is partly to blame for many of the misunderstandings that persist
around organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Did you know you are five
times more likely to need an organ than to donate one? One organ and tissue
donor can save up to eight lives and enhance as many as 75 others. Islam
encourages charity and assisting those who are in need. Islam says “yes” to
organ donation to save another person. Islam supports giving.

Bring this article to the dinner table
tonight. Open the discussion with your family. You may just save a life.

Myth:
Life support will be removed too soon in a rush to get my organs. People are
always opening their eyes after being given up on.

Fact: The truth is people who have consented to organ donation are
actually submitted to more tests to ensure that they are deceased than those who
have not. These tests are conducted in such a way as to leave no room for
error. A person on a life support machine, once pronounced dead by the doctors,
is considered dead from an Islamic point of view.

Myth:
A Muslim must be buried quickly and cannot wait to have organs removed.

Fact: It is the Sunna to hasten the burial of the dead; however, for
good reasons the deceased may be buried later. There is no specific timing for
burial, once the body is kept properly and respected. Many people send their dead
back home for burial, which can be unavoidably delayed for a reasonable amount of time, this operation only takes a few hours.

Myth:
Muslims do not approve of post mortems and to remove the organs is like an
autopsy.

Fact:
While the Prophet
Muhammad, peace be upon him, emphasized the respect of the dead and
equated breaking of the bones of the dead as that of the living – a painful
act, he forbade this when it is done deliberately to inflict disrespect and
pain to the dead. This injunction doesn’t apply when the cause of death has to
be determined in order to mete out justice. Similarly, for such a greater good
of saving a life, the surgical removal of organs is quite in order – just as he
agreed for a Companion to have a gold nose replacement instead of an iron one.

Myth:
I’m too old/I was a smoker/I have a chronic condition, they won’t want my
organs anyway.

Fact: Let the healthcare professionals decide. Everyone can be a donor
regardless of age or medical condition; in fact the oldest Canadian organ donor
was over 90 years of age. Your decision to register should not be based on
whether you think you would be eligible or not. A donor’s eligibility is
determined by the health care team upon their death.

Myth:
Only Muslims can benefit from Muslim organs and tissue and vice-versa

Fact: There
is no such law in Islam that charity, let alone usage of one’s organs and
tissues, has to be given to a person of the same faith. Humans we are and
humans we will always be. When the Prophet was prepared to save the lives of
many from harm, how can we be selfish and discriminate?

Myth:
I signed an organ donor card a long time ago. My wishes are recorded.

Fact: The
traditional donor cards pre-date our registry here in Ontario, so if you have
only signed a donor card, you are likely not registered. For people who know
they aren’t registered, or who are unsure, they can visit www.BeADonor.ca to
register or check their registration status.

Every three days, someone on the transplant
wait list in Ontario dies. It doesn’t have to be this way, yet less than 20% of
eligible Ontarians have registered their consent to donate.

If
you want to be sure your consent is registered, visit BeADonor.ca or register
in person at a ServiceOntario centre. More information can be found at www.giftoflife.on.ca.

Twenty year old, Rohit Batra is a second year student at the University of Toronto. Batra explained that most of his holiday time thus far has been devoted to “playing video games and just sleeping in. I never get the chance to relax during the school year because of how much work I have to do.”

Unlike Batra, second year student at the University of Guelph Humber, Shreyaa Chawla, has been working this whole holiday season. “I get bored staying at home all day. I’ve been working all year and I’m not going to stop when I have time off of school. I have more free time to work now, I’m not going to waste it.”

There is clearly a contrast between these two university students. Upon asking them if they wanted sc hool to resume, both Batra and Chawla expressed their discontent with their upcoming semesters.

Priyanka Monpara, another second year student from York University, claims that she has spent a lot of her break watching movies. “I need to catch up. I feel like I’m living under a rock when it comes to new movies lately. During school, I try to focus strictly on my classes and don’t get a chance to do many things for myself.”

Brijesh Monpara, tenth grade student, like his sister claims that he spends his time during the holidays doing things of leisure. “I have exams coming up, but I’m not too worried about them. I think it would be better for me to use this time to relax when school starts back up, I can start studying.” Although these two siblings are quite far apart in age, they seem to be rather similar in terms of their interests during their time off of school.

Ninth grade student Rajpreet Sahota expressed her displeasure with having to go back to school. “I’m having so much fun at home. I don’t want to think about going back right now.” Upon asking what Sahota what she has been using her time for, she replied with “relaxing; just sitting around, watching TV and doing my nails I guess.”

Unike Sahota, seventh grade student, Naveena Riar, says that she wants to go back to school. “I get bored at home. At least when I’m at school there’s something to do besides watch TV and play games.”

Interestingly, Riar and Sahota are only two years apart in age; however, they displayed completely different opinions about going back to school in January. Riar is both the youngest student that I had spoken to, and the only one who was in a hurry to get back to school. It really makes you wonder, is one’s appreciation for school more apparent at a younger age?

My question was tested further when I had spoken to third year student at the University of Guelph, Ritesh Briah, who explained that he used his time to “work out and try to get fit.”

When asked if he was looking forward to the new semester in January, Briah replied with “not really, I need more time to myself. When I’m at school I don’t have enough time and energy to focus on working out. It’s just easier when you don’t have classes to worry about.”

Like Briah, another third year student at the University of Guelph, Prabjot Parmar, had a similar opinion. “I really needed this time off of school to focus on my health. When I’m at school it’s harder to focus on eating healthy when there are so many time constrictions caused by having to go to classes. At home, I think I can focus more time and energy on my nutrition goals.”

Taking these two students’ thoughts into consideration, it is evident that they are relieved to be on their winter holidays. It does make sense; less time spent in class equals more time available to spend on oneself. The time spent on oneself is clearly a product of what is important to the individual, though.

The last student I had spoken with was another third year student at York University. Preeti Gill explained that her break would be cut shorter than students from most other institutions. “York starts on January third. It’s not really fair for us to get a shorter break than anyone else. I’d much rather have a longer winter holiday than a reading week in October.”

I asked what Gill had done during the break and she explained that she had been using her time to relax and take her mind off school and focus more on catching up with old friends. “I never get to see them because I’m so busy during school.” Gill stressed the importance of having time to unload after a tough semester and unwind after even tougher exams.

There you have it, the answer to what students use their days off school for. Most of them use it to relax, some use it to earn extra cash, and some use it to catch up with old friends. The age difference is still a little cloudy. Do younger students use their time more or less wisely? Do the older students dread the end of the holiday season more than their young counterparts? Either way, it is apparent from the post secondary students that I had spoken to that they are displeased at the thought of returning to school. When asked if they are ready to go back, the response was unanimously negative.

By Gagan Batra

“It’s a very common dialogue at home that it’s okay for women to get slapped every once in a while; it keeps her in control. It’s practiced, sometimes to the point that when the son grows up, he thinks he has a right to slap the mother.”

“There are three kinds that are very common—mental, physical and financial. Of these, the mental one is the most common, where women are put down all the time, they are threatened with deportation if they raise a voice. They are also reminded of their responsibility towards the community.”

There are a number of organizations working in the South Asian community that help women in abusive relationships. Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women is one of those organizations that understand challenges faced by women from immigrant and South Asian communities. In serving these women there are significant religious, cultural and psychological pressures.

In our conversation with Executive Director Sunder Singh of Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women, we explored the challenges faced by women in abusive relationships and how his organizations helps women in distress.

GN: Your organization received the Mayor’s Community Safety award for your “reduce abuse” program. Tell us more about this program—it’s objectives and successes.

Reduce Abuse is part of the overall services we’re providing. Our goal is to create awareness among women about their rights. We feel the onus doesn’t go on to the male member himself. I strongly believe that women have to speak out. We are trying to create awareness in women to take the responsibility on their own. If something doesn’t feel good, then we have to take action.

The Reduce Abuse program is in partnership with Police Division 31B. We approached them a few years ago and requested to do a few programs at their site so that women who have the notion that the police isn’t reliable are reassured. They are coming on a regular basis, once a week at the Police Division. Every once in a while, the police will come and do workshops, bring awareness about what women need to do if they find themselves in a life-threatening situation. Then the police will give a tour to these women.

An example is an Afghani woman who didn’t want to talk to anyone because of fear. After attending the workshops and having been in contact with the police, she finally did report. She was going through hell—he had gone to Afghanistan, got married again, came back and abused her. She was totally helpless and was afraid of being deported if she spoke out. By creating awareness, we made her understand that by reporting they don’t get deported.

We don’t encourage women to report against their husbands, but we tell them what they can do and that there is no danger in reporting. There’s a possibility that the woman might not need our or the police’s services, but their friends or relatives might.

GN: What are some of the major battles that women from immigrant communities, particularly those in abusive relationships, have to fight?

There are two major battles. One is the community stigma. The other is the husband gets ahold of the documents—the passports etc. and he says if you speak out, you will be deported. Those are the two major fears that women have.

For deportation, we give them full information on what their rights are, tell them that they do not get deported just like that. We look at their papers. We have had cases where the women had absolutely no papers and we had to reapply for the passport and documents until they were in possession of their own legal documents. We have gone through that process several times.

Recently, a woman who came from England, a young, beautiful Punjabi woman, with a great personality…But she was shaking when she first visited our centre. After she went through the process of settlement, we helped her focus to find a job. Following discussions on what she really wanted to do, we learned she wanted to join the police force, to be able to help others facing domestic abuse. We coached her and encouraged her to get in touch with the police. At this stage, she’s getting interviewed by the police service division, and we are hoping that she would become a part of one of the programs that the police have. And after that she would need to get training to join the police force.

GN: Many a times, organizations such as yours are accused of breaking apart families. How do you cope with such myths and perceptions?

People can accuse us of anything—we’re not bothered by that. Our job is to help and provide information to anyone coming to us.

GN: Your organization’s goal is to become one of the leading non-profit organizations that caters to the unique needs of immigrants and newcomers in the South Asian community. Why this particular community? What are some of the biggest challenges facing the South Asian community?

There are too many social stigmas. For everything a woman does, she’s worried about what the community is going to say. She’s not worried about her own happiness. She’s constantly thinking about her in-laws and the community. She loses a chance of creativity, to express herself as an individual.

GN: How do you counsel them to cope with these issues?

To help cope with the fear of the community, we have to bring women to think about themselves; what is it that they want? We work from there and build goals for them and then we follow up.

GN: What do you think will be the impact of marriage fraud legislation on violence against women who are in abusive relationships?

I think awareness through media has been created. People in other countries and in Canada do understand these marriages can be fraudulent, but individuals or families at that point have to take responsibility. We have to find out the background of the families. Giving this kind of awareness is part of our program. We are also encouraging women to read newspapers and discuss the hot topics.

GN: What steps would you advise new immigrant women to take to ensure their self-empowerment?

The first thing they need to understand are the rights of women in Canada With this awareness, they need to create a strong network and through the networks, they share their stories and feelings and that’s how they empower themselves, by connecting with other women.

GN: What processes do you have in place for empowering women? Do you also involve the male members of families in these processes?

Absolutely. We talk to men all the time. It’s a challenge, but we look for support from men too.

GN: What are the biggest forms of abuse women, especially from immigrant communities, face?

There are three kinds that are very common—mental, physical and financial. Of these, the mental one is the most common, where women are put down all the time, they are threatened with deportation if they raise a voice. They are also reminded of their responsibility towards the community.

GN: What about abuse prevailing among second-generation South Asian women?

There is a problem right at the core. Boys are brought up significantly differently than women are. Boys are given more freedom than girls. It’s a very common dialogue at home that it’s okay for women to get slapped every once in a while; it keeps her in control. It’s practiced, sometimes to the point that when the son grows up, he thinks he has a right to slap the mother.

We do deal with a lot of senior members who live in joint families and have daughters-in-law. We do workshops twice a week in Vaughan, where we discuss this commonly.

By Bhaswati Ghosh

“At PNSG, 100% of our staff is immigrants. In terms of women, there are three women and two men. In terms of South Asian, three of the five are from South Asia. Some ask me if this is deliberate, but they just qualified for the roles we were looking at. They are all also newcomers. The kind of things we celebrate as a team is my assistant getting her driver’s license, my communications person becoming a Canadian citizen.”

Among the several settlement agencies working in the GTA, Peel Newcomer Strategy Group (PNSG) is a prominent one. Its objective is to coordinate between and integrate settlement services for immigrants in the Region of Peel. Recently, Generation Next spoke to Laureen Rennie, the organization’s Executive Director on a range of issues and debates surrounding newcomers.

Community outreach events such as the Mississauga Summit that was held recently, have the problem of not attracting new people. In these gatherings, people who participate are the same with very little new insight and at times their own axes to grind.

In the process, such events don’t penetrate the community at the grassroots level. Ms. Rennie suggests taking the message right into the neighbourhoods and working directly with residents. “We have mapped ten neighbourhoods in Peel where newcomers are very dense in terms of their representation in those vicinities. We want to ensure we bring them into the conversation…I believe working on a model based on neighbourhood will be a good way to start getting more residents involved,” she says.

But what about Brampton, now predominantly a South Asian city?

Ms. Rennie agrees and says “We know that terminology of visible minority no longer applies in Brampton because 57% of the population is visible minority… We’ve done some research in that regard to gain better understanding, but now the time has come for acting on what we have learned.”

Every so often, there is advocacy to engage visible minorities into decision making. But given the initial struggles of new Canadians with regard to finding jobs and getting foreign credential recognition, can they really become part of the conversation?

While Ms. Rennie concedes that work is a priority and is a day-in, day-out job, she doesn’t think that’s the only thing driving an individual. “Being a sense of community, feeling a sense of belonging is also part of what drives individuals. They did this when they were in their own home countries so it’s only natural to want to do it here.”

She also sounds critical of the federal government’s immigration policy. While on the one hand points are given to people on the basis of foreign professional credentials when one applies to immigrate, once the person lands, those very credentials aren’t considered enough. She feels the government needs to resolve this disconnect.

Newcomers to Canada are often advised to engage in volunteer activities. This can present at Catch-22 situation wherein a person still looking for gainful employment has to spend time and money to do volunteer work. Again, Ms. Rennie is understanding about the newcomer’s dilemma, but still maintains that the importance of networking that can’t be discounted when it comes to even something like job hunting.

As Director of an organization that connects new Canadians to services available, Ms. Rennie is only too aware how new immigrants make ends meet. “The story of a newcomer is very well known,” she says, “they are doing it by long hours, by working in employments that do not utilize their skills very well. They are doing it by holding multiple jobs, by working and still furthering their education. It’s difficult but they are doing it. I can’t imagine how someone does stay motivated, but they do.”

The word diversity comes up incessantly in the Canadian context and even big corporations don’t stop mentioning it. However, one wonders if it is mere lip service.

Ms. Rennie says that if diversity isn’t visible through different layers in an organization, it means something is lagging. This is even truer of senior management. She highlights the work done in this direction by organizations like TD Bank who have played an important role by placing what she calls a “value proposition” for the newcomer or immigrant population. She draws attention to how the bank’s business is changing more and more to reflect the communities they are serving. “More businesses need to follow suit,” she believes and wants to hold up the banking industry as good examples that other companies should follow.

When asked if she thinks the provincial Liberal’s policy to reward employers who hire new Canadians with a $10,000 tax credit would prove effective, Ms. Rennie evinces skepticism. She says, “If we believe that companies hire who they need and what they need and that they have fair practices, I am not sure how helpful it will be. Now if those two things I mentioned don’t exist, the worry for me is that this could be a tokenism type of approach and that’s always the concern because if tokenism becomes the unplanned consequence of this offering, it completely derails what we are trying to accomplish.”

A PNSG newsletter indicates that immigrants in Canada aren’t faring as well with job searches as their Canadian-born counterparts. What could be behind this?

According to Ms. Rennie, who was actively involved with this study, part of the problem relates to securing employment. However, the other factor that inhibits their growth is that once they find employment, immigrants are often reluctant to push for their own advancement. Her interactions with many employed immigrants suggested that culturally, they are not accustomed to be aggressive about their own progression in the organization.

While there might be some substance to that argument, isn’t it true that some amount of discrimination also plays a role in this? Ms. Rennie feels it certainly does.

“There was actually a study done in which individuals removed their names or made up different names that were more Anglo-sounding and they also had a comparative group of names that run the gamut of diverse names, and the majority of Anglo-sounding names got call for an interview versus the ones that had the foreign-sounding names. So that report conclusively said there’s some level of discrimination, but how big a role that plays is a bit of an unknown at this point,” she says.

Does PNSG practice the diversity it desires to see in the community in general? Mr. Rennie informs with delight that 100 percent of their staff is made up of immigrants. They are all newcomers too.

At PNSG, 100% of our staff is immigrants. In terms of women, there are three women and two men. In terms of South Asian, three of the five are from South Asia. Some ask me if this is deliberate, but they just qualified for the roles we were looking at. They are all also newcomers. The kind of things we celebrate as a team is my assistant getting her driver’s license, my communications person becoming a Canadian citizen.

Here’re some excerpts of our conversation:

GN: At a recent conference organized by you, Ratna Omidvar spoke about the inclusion of immigrants. What specifically do you think can the government and non-profit organizations do to make that happen?

At the federal level as well as the provincial level, we currently…PNSG is actually an initiative that is a joint collaboration between the federal and the provincial governments and the region and United Way… Specifically, there’s a big idea to have a Centre for Diversity and Inclusion in Mississauga…We have a population where half the folks we have here were not born in Canada, but if you were to look at our councils, you don’t see any of that reflected, compared to MPPs and MPs at provincial and federal levels. It’s not clear to us why that’s happening, it’s something we have to better understand.

At the recent conference we had a newcomer as our emcee. That was deliberate. He had a completely different occupation from what he did on this particular day, but he did an exceptional job. So many times we hear of the struggling newcomer and the newcomer who is taking from the system, so it’s good to show the other side.

GN: But the gentleman you referred to, despite all his volunteer work, he struggles to keep jobs in settlement agencies. It’s a Catch-22. How do you respond to that?

It’s a Catch-22 and it’s interesting.. but I think he’s doing all the things that will take him where he wants to be.

GN: In recent municipal by-elections in the City of Mississauga, we saw a lot of visible minority candidates who ran without success. Does it mean newcomers have yet to understand the bureaucracy?

Those who run successful campaigns have and are aware of that those who are currently running in terms of our immigrant population, who are not succeeding, are missing.

GN: How about discrimination in hiring new Canadians?

Yes, I do believe that discrimination exists. Can I say it is being used so widely as a way of not advancing individuals? I would probably say more on the front end. When we talk about the resumes that come into a company…if the company—those who are screening the resumes screen out someone because of the name because they associate that name to be from whichever part of the world, that’s the discriminative act.

By Bhaswati Ghosh

“Hunger is a more serious issue than we think,” says Kranenburg, adding that about eight percent of Canadians are food insecure, which means they sacrifice their diets in a number of ways such as skipping meals, going without meals, or compromising the quality of food they eat.

As serious as it appears from the statistics, there isn’t a whole lot of awareness on the issue of hunger in Canada. As Kranenburg points out, “Most of us think of hunger as something that happens somewhere else, or we think of a homeless person.” The face of hunger in this country, he informs, is much different than coming across poor people in rags on the street. It’s an issue faced by many a single mother, new Canadians, people with disabilities and working poor. He says that there’s every likelihood that we know of someone who uses a food bank or finds it difficult to put food on the table. “They just don’t fit your image of someone who is hungry,” he says.

Linked to this is the issue of children going to school hungry. Kranenburg believes that school breakfast and lunch programs are an important step in ensuring healthy food for all. He shares the concern that going to school hungry can negatively affect kids’ ability to learn and play.

Born out of a student’s initiative to donate the excess from his university food grant to the local needy, Meal Exchange believes that food is for everyone. As such, the organization endeavors to foster a community spirit to address the challenge of hunger in healthy, sustainable ways. Although no particular community’s involvement is sought, Kranenburg mentions that some of Meal Exchange’s most outstanding leaders have come from the South Asian Community.

One of the advantages of diversity of community is the variety of festivals that are unique to specific cultures. Meal Exchange realizes this too and is working towards making the best of these occasions. In 2010, the organization worked with a Toronto-based Muslim youth group on a fundraising campaign during Ramadan that raised about $5,000 for food banks. Encouraged by the success of that campaign “and the feeling among youth from diverse backgrounds that traditional charitable programs don’t meet their needs, we’re hoping to develop other programs,” says Kranenburg. He tells us optimistically that youth everywhere want to get involved with their community; it’s just a matter of finding the right program that speaks to them.

Hunger and poverty are sensitive issues and need to addressed as such. Hungry people are not necessarily without dignity and deserve the same respect an average individual does. Kranenburg suggests ridding oneself of stereotypes and avoid the idea that one is doing something noble. Approach people with respect and get to know them, and if you do this, you’ll find that you help them without even trying.  Just have an open mind and an open heart,” advises Kranenburg.

By Bhaswati Ghosh

Ashamed of what I wondered. Ashamed for being concerned about the well-being of my community?

On another occasion, I was outreaching at a health fair where people could come to my table in private. South Asians came up to me, asked about Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and grabbed the condoms as if I was handing out free ladoos. It was interesting to note that almost all of them were cautious and made sure no one saw them put the condoms in their pockets and purses.

These two experiences makes me realize that whether you were born in Canada, brought up here or recently immigrated to this country, sexual health and sexuality is still a hard topic to discuss in our South Asian community. Even with the growing 600 000 South Asian population in Toronto alone, things have not changed. So what’s the point? Why bother talking about it today?

As ASAAP commemorates World AIDS Day, it is the perfect opportunity to educate South Asians on HIV and AIDS. Since 1988, World AIDS Day (December 1^st, 2011) has been held every year around the world. It has become one of the most widely recognized global health days to remember those who have lost their lives to HIV, to stand in solidarity with those affected by the disease and to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS.

However, talking about HIV and AIDS is impossible without acknowledging sex, the elephant in the room many South Asians are generally uncomfortable with. Most of our parents never gave us the birds and the bees talk and changed the television channel whenever two people did anything sexual, even if they were pretending to kiss. No wonder that even as young adults, we are left feeling uncomfortable talking about sexual health and sexuality with our parents and even shockingly, our closest friends.

Prevailing ideas about sex and sexuality geared towards maintaining a strong collective culture of chastity, makes these conversations even harder. For example,

• All South Asians are monogamous (hmm, sure they are)
• South Asians are not homosexual or bisexual…(tell this to the thousands who successfully fought to decriminalize same sex activity in Nepal (2008) and in India (2009)
• South Asians are not sexual people, particularly outside marriage (the Kama Sutra would disagree)
• Sexual Activity is only for the purposes of procreation (again, the Kama Sutra would disagree)
• HIV/AIDS is a white person’s disease (tell this to the 3.8 million adults and children living with HIV in South Asia UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report 2011)
• HIV/AIDS is a gay person’s disease (not for all the heterosexual women and men living with HIV around the world)
• If you talk about sex and sexuality with South Asians, it will happen. (and if you don’t talk about it, it will also happen- the point is that it happens safely)

Many continue to believe these misconceptions, but the reality is that South Asians need to know about HIV because just like any other group, sex before marriage does happen, some of our peers do question their sexuality, and people are not always safe while making decisions. And even if we wait till after marriage to have sex, do we know whether our partner has had an STI test? What about in arranged marriages? Will marriage brokers include the sexual history of people while matchmaking and exchanging horoscopes?

The fact is that, there are South Asians living in Toronto with HIV and these cultural stereotypes do not make life easy for them. Nor does it make it easy for people to get information about sexual health, get tested or protect themselves from STIs.

So let’s talk about it now. Let’s get educated and let’s not be afraid to ask questions. We have to start somewhere, and fortunately you are not alone. There are people ready and willing to connect you to information and resources you may need. To find out more information on sexual health, the support groups for South Asians living with HIV, and the support groups for queer South Asian men, contact ASAAP: at (416)599-2727, education@asaap.ca or www.asaap.ca

HIV is a virus which attacks the immune system, particularly, white blood cells called CD4+ T cells that are responsible for fighting of infections in the body.

WHAT is AIDS (Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome)?

As HIV progressively weakens the immune system, the body becomes more vulnerable to infections, which it will have difficulty in fighting off. At the point of an advanced HIV infection, a person is said to have AIDS. At this stage opportunistic infections that might not severely affect a person with a well-functioning immune system, could be fatal for someone with AIDS. If you are diagnosed with AIDS you can get better and go back to having just HIV. Just because you have HIV does not mean you automatically have AIDS.

How is HIV transmitted?

HIV can only be transmitted through certain bodily fluids such as blood, breast milk and sexual fluids (including semen, pre-seminal fluid, vaginal fluid and anal secretions). You cannot contract HIV through any other fluids such as saliva, sweat, tears, mucous or bodily waste.

Actions that involve these fluids are considered high risk such as:

* Unprotected sex (without using a condom)

* Sharing injection needles/syringes

* Receiving a blood transfusion in a country where blood may not be screened

* Getting a tattoo or piercing with shared or dirty needles

* Giving birth without treatment and breastfeeding

How is it treated?

Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) is the main type of treatment for HIV. It is not a cure, but it can prevent the weakening the immune system for years extending the quality and length of life. ART consists of drugs that have to be taken every day for life, which can have varying side effects.

Lalitha Bhagavatheeswaran is Prevention Education Coordinator Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention (ASAAP).