A TEAM from Body Positive Dorset have been on a mission around Dorset schools to teach young people the facts about HIV.

Sponsored by Health Watch Dorset, they have been working to educate the minds of boys and girls aged 16 and above.

The group of four have been out and about to speak to pupils about the facts of the virus which is passed on primarily through unprotected sex.

Body Positive Dorset was founded by Phillip Hawkins as a mutual support centre for those whose lives had been dramatically changed by contracting HIV, an immunodeficiency virus which attacks the body, resulting in a progressive failure of a person’s immune system.

The outcome for people with HIV is that life threatening infections can thrive in the body without appropriate treatment.

Alongside the issue of deteriorating health, the virus carries a burden of stigma and rejection and to this day has no cure.

However big strides are being made in treatments with recent trials conducted in New York bringing researchers closer to an antibody treatment.

According to Richard Erven, manager of Body Positive Dorset for six years, there is still a common misconception about the transmission of HIV, with both children and adults still believing that it only stems from homosexual activity or drug users.

In 2013, 96 percent of those who tested positive for HIV in the UK had contracted the disease through sex with over a third being heterosexual. Less than one percent of reported cases were from drug users.

Richard said that in the area, 16-24 year-old heterosexuals had the biggest increase in HIV however across all age groups anyone who is sexually active is at risk.

Body Positive Dorset hoped that through teaching youngsters the real facts about the virus and advising them on how to protect themselves against it, the health services could in turn be improved and the amount of people coming through the doors in need of treatment reduced.

Each year, each person with HIV costs the NHS up to £25,000 through treatment and services such as antiretroviral drugs.

Richard Erven said that there was a lack of coverage about HIV in the media and that people were still relaying incorrect information about HIV.

The information was not just being spread around the playgrounds in school but also by adults and parents.

Richard said: “People need to be educated or more aware of the realities of HIV, and then their attitudes and behavioural patterns will change.”

A spokesperson for HWD said: “Health Watch Dorset are proud to be supporting Body positive in this work which will help us to improve local health and care services for people with HIV.”

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