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DURHAM -- No one with HIV/AIDS should be denied medical care, regardless of their circumstances, according to Randy Rogers, a health education specialist with the Durham County Health Department.
"No person in the world should go without adequate care as it relates to HIV, whether they're here in the United States or Sub-Saharan Africa," Rogers said in an interview last week at World AIDS Day in Durham. "They should be able to receive the adequate treatment they need with dignity and respect."
Rogers said the focus needs to be on HIV prevention, treatment and care.
Prevention "is a process," he said, "because when we talk about behaviors, that's something that doesn't change overnight."
He said it's important to get tested and know if you've been infected with the HIV virus, which causes AIDS.
Using condoms correctly is an important way to prevent the disease, he said. He said it's important that condoms be made from latex or polyurethane, be applied properly and that only water-based lubricants be used.
Rogers, a co-chairman for World AIDS Day in Durham, said progress has been made in the number of medications available to treat the disease.
"This disease is definitely manageable," he said. "It's a long-term disease, but it's manageable. But we're not where we need to be just in terms of getting more folks tested and seeing the number [of infections] reduced. We're seeing people live longer, but we still need to see those [infection] numbers reduced."
"And that's going to happen with behavioral changes," Rogers said. "And I think that behavioral changes will occur when there is less judgment and stigma involved with HIV."
