Tomorrow is World AIDS day, and while we’re sure you’ve read that we’re on pace to set the highest annual total of new HIV infections in Hong Kong for 30 years, we wanted to share more information about HIV and AIDS in Hong Kong.
As you Coconauts may or may not know, 100 percent of the proceeds from M∙A∙C makeup’s VIVA Glam product line are donated to organisations that help prevent, treat and care for people living with HIV and AIDS.
In the spirit of AIDS awareness, we teamed up with M∙A∙C to round up some facts, figures and tips to hopefully combat the ignorance surrounding HIV and AIDS, and learn how to better support the 5 million people in Asia who are infected.
Spread knowledge, not STDs, right?
Did you know…? Five facts about HIV and AIDS in Hong Kong and Asia
- According to survey data spanning over 15 years from AIDS Concern Hong Kong, many of those infected with HIV in Hong Kong have only had one regular sexual partner.
- Four in five men who have sex with men (MSM) have taken part in group sex parties, but only 40% use a condom.
- Forty percent of heterosexual men in Hong Kong do not use a condom with paid sex workers.
- HIV can have no symptoms at all. The misconception that it does has lead to many people putting off testing and going on to infect others.
- Many women with HIV only discover, via late diagnosis, that they are infected when they have HIV screening during pregnancy.
Three ways to stay safe and support people living with HIV and AIDS:
- Get tested – regularly, and no matter what your sex or sexuality. Reportedly, women aren’t very likely to go for regular testing, but approx. 50 percent of people infected with HIV progress to AIDS within 10 years if they aren’t diagnosed and treated promptly. From tomorrow until Monday, Dec. 7, AIDS Concern will have a free testing week at their Health Service Centre in Jordan (Flat B, 3/F, Fu Lee Commercial Building, 14-20 Pilkem Street, Jordan). The service is anonymous, confidential, and comes with counselling and referral services.
- Use a condom – as well as protecting you from the most common way to pick up sexually transmitted infections, condoms are widely and easily available to purchase and use, have slim to zero side effects, and go a long way towards staving off pregnancy scares.
- Treat yourself, your loved one or one of your pals to VIVA Glam lipstick or gloss from MAC. Tomorrow, beauty gurus Hana Tam, Ding_2 and Neat Freaks Diary, amongst others, will be on hand to test out their makeup skills on shoppers at the M∙A∙C FACESSS store. More details will be revealed via the #MACCares, #VIVAGLAM and #MACAIDSFUND hashtags.
