Whether you are living long term with HIV or are recently diagnosed, an important part of living well with HIV is to look after your body as much as treating your virus. It’s never too early to take control and establish a ‘blueprint’ plan for your health.
This website is designed to help guide all people living with HIV (PLHIV) to develop a plan to for better health – regardless of your stage of life. Four new preventative health messages have been developed to highlight some of the key additional health issues (called “co-morbidities”) that may affect a number of PLHIV at various stages of their lives. Strategies and information are contained within that could be considered as your ‘blueprint’ for prevention of these conditions:
- Make Your Plan to Keep a Healthy HEART.
- Make Your Plan to Keep a Healthy LIVER.
- Make Your Plan to Keep a Healthy MIND.
- Make Your Plan to Keep a Healthy IMMUNE SYSTEM.
Despite antiretroviral treatments enabling many PLHIV to approach HIV as a manageable chronic disease, various co-morbidities continue to challenge and complicate the management of both HIV and the other conditions. Information on managing HIV co-morbidities has recently been framed around ageing, however, that framing requires people to identify as ‘ageing’ and to want to address ‘the ageing process’ which many people may not find appropriate for them. Whilst age can affect health, it’s not the cause of ill-health. For example you can be 70 or 80 and still enjoy a daily jog, brisk walk or swim (with the intensity and frequency suited to you age level of course), or you can be 30 or 40 and have experienced a heart condition. There are many individual variables, but one constant is that everyone can take control and seek to make proactive health choices to better the daily outcomes and life-long maintenance of your own health – What will be your ‘body blueprint’ for your health goals?
Whilst this campaign describes the things PLHIV can do to reduce or modify the risks of developing co-morbid conditions or diseases, you are encouraged to seek additional community and clinical help and discussion. In the main, your doctor will routinely monitor your risks factors for co-morbidities and apply clinical therapies as needed (such as changes or additions to any treatment you may be undertaking), but there are also these things you can do to improve and build upon your health outcomes. We are here at QPP to also help you achieve your health goals – please feel free to call us in relation to ‘your body blueprint’ goals.
