HIV/AIDS Support Space with Cyn

22/11/2025

📬❓❓❓

22/11/2025

Behind every HIV positive person is a story you don’t know. A story of strength, survival, and battles fought in silence.
Stigma is cruelty. Rumours are violence. Judgement destroys lives.
If you don’t know someone’s journey, you have no right to tear them down.
Stand on the side of humanity.

21/11/2025

Be PrePared

𝐏𝐫𝐄𝐏 + 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐬 = 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤!😉

21/11/2025

HIV doesn’t stop love, connection, or building a future together. With effective treatment and staying undetectable, couples in mixed-status relationships can thrive safely and confidently. ❤️

21/11/2025

Living with HIV does not mean your life stops.
People living with HIV can study, work, fall in love, have children, travel, dream, build businesses, and live long, healthy lives with the right treatment and support.

HIV does not define your potential.
With treatment, you can stay healthy, undetectable, and unstoppable.
Let’s continue fighting stigma by showing the world that people living with HIV can live boldly, fully, and confidently.

21/11/2025

Close the Gap

𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗔𝗜𝗗𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗬: 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗛 𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗡𝗧 (𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗠𝗘𝗦𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗬)
Join us for a powerful day of community wellness and solidarity. We’ll be offering a variety of health services, support, and educational activities to help you and your loved ones thrive, including:

• HIV self‑screening, testing & counselling
• STI screening & counselling
• TB screening, testing & counselling
• General wellness checks
• Child health screenings (bring your child’s Road to Health booklet)
• Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision referral info
• Condom distribution & demos (male/female)
• Cervical screenings
• Health education (including mental wellness)
• Support to start and stay on PrEP

📅𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: Monday, 1 December 2025 I⏱️𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲: 07:30 (Health walk from Thusong Centre at Ilingelethu Sports Field)
📍 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: Swartland Community Sports Centre (SCORE), Corner of Alfa & Holomisa Street, Malmesbury, South Africa

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚! Together, we take the first step toward better health for all.

Western Cape Government, Families South Africa - FAMSA, SANAC and local community organisations.

20/11/2025

You're not alone 🫂

20/11/2025

Finding out you’re HIV positive can feel like the world is crashing down, but it doesn’t define you. With the right treatment, people living with HIV can live full, healthy lives and remain undetectable, meaning they cannot transmit HIV s*xually (U=U).

Staying U=U has huge benefits: it protects your partner, reduces fear and anxiety in relationships, and helps fight stigma by showing that people living with HIV can live safely and responsibly.

Knowing your status is power. It’s the first step to protecting yourself, your loved ones, and taking control of your health. You are still whole, still strong, and still capable of living your best life. Support is out there, and hope is real.

20/11/2025

The window period is the time between getting exposed to HIV and when a test can reliably detect the infection. During this period, someone can be infected but still test negative.

After infection, the body starts producing antibodies, which HIV tests look for. How quickly these antibodies appear depends on the type of test used. Most modern tests can detect HIV within 2–6 weeks, but some may take longer. That’s why 90 days (3 months) is considered the maximum window period for complete accuracy.

Even if a test is negative during the window period, a person can still transmit HIV through s*x, blood contact, or sharing needles. Testing at the right time ensures you know your true status and can protect yourself and others.

18/11/2025

In terms of HIV, antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system in response to the virus.

When someone is infected with HIV, the immune system recognizes parts of the virus as foreign. In response, the body produces HIV-specific antibodies — special proteins that bind to the virus and signal the immune system to fight it. These antibodies remain in the blood for life, even if the virus is fully suppressed by antiretroviral therapy (ART). This is because antibodies are part of the body’s long-term immune memory.

Most HIV tests — rapid tests, ELISA, and many lab-based tests detect these antibodies, not the virus itself. This is why a person living with HIV can have an undetectable viral load and still test HIV-positive on an antibody test: the antibodies stay, even when the virus is controlled.

In short: antibodies are the body’s defence markers, not the virus itself.

18/11/2025

Even if a person living with HIV has an undetectable viral load, they will still test HIV positive.

This is because HIV tests detect antibodies, not the virus itself.
✅Antibodies are proteins the body produces to fight HIV, and once formed, they remain in the blood for life, even if treatment fully suppresses the virus.

How is viral load measured?
A viral load test measures how much HIV is in the blood of someone living with HIV and on treatment.
When the viral load is so low that the test cannot detect any measurable virus, the result is called undetectable.

❗ Important:
A person living with HIV cannot use an HIV test to check viral load — HIV tests do not measure the amount of virus. Only a viral load test can confirm if the virus is suppressed.

Being undetectable means a person cannot transmit HIV s*xually. This is the power of U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable).

18/11/2025

U = U means Undetectable = Untransmittable and the science behind it is powerful.

If a person living with HIV is on treatment and maintains an undetectable viral load (below 200 copies/mL), they cannot s*xually transmit HIV.
This has been proven through large studies that recorded zero transmissions.

It applies to all types of s€xual in*******se — vaginal, a**l, and oral.
When the viral load is undetectable, there is no risk of passing on HIV s*xually.

U=U also means a drastically reduced risk in pregnancy and breastfeeding, though these situations must be managed with a healthcare professional.

❗ Important:
U=U only works when someone takes their ART consistently and their viral load has dropped to levels too low for the viral load test to measure.

⚠️ U=U is not a cure, and it doesn’t work if someone stops treatment or becomes detectable again.
But it is one of the most life-changing breakthroughs in HIV science, reducing stigma, restoring dignity, and showing that people living with HIV can love, build families, and live full lives without transmitting HIV.

Let’s spread facts, not fear. ❤️