1. About 1.2 million Ethiopians are expected living with HIV/AIDS in 2010

2. Unprotected sex is responsible for an estimated 90% of the country’s HIV/AIDS cases

3. In Ethiopia’s major city centers, one-in-six adults are infected with HIV and do not even know it

4. When someone tests positive for the virus, he or she is HIV+. People can live many years in good health with HIV.  Being HIV+ doesn’t mean having AIDS. AIDS is a syndrome that happens after many years of being HIV+, when the immune system, the body’s natural defense system, breaks down and can’t fight infections. People do not die from AIDS, but the infections their bodies cannot fight.

5. HIV enters the body through the sharing of body fluids like semen, vaginal fluid and blood. HIV spread from one person to another by:

* Unsafe sex (sex without using a latex condom)
* From mother to child (during Pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding)
* Through sharing HIV infected “sharps”: needles and razors

6. You can’t get HIV through “casual contact” like kissing, hugging, sharing cups, plates and utensils, toilet seats, swimming pools, tears or saliva.

7. HIV does not discriminate. It doesn't care about race, gender, sexual preference. People of all races and creeds can become HIV+.

8. The best thing you can do to fight AIDS is prevent becoming infected.

9. If you know someone with HIV, treat them with the love and respect you always have. Fear, ignorance and prejudice not only create the stigma of HIV, but encourage the spread of the virus by creating a wall of silence and denial about AIDS.

10. There is no cure for AIDS, but you can be careful and play safe. It’s your body. It’s your life. It’s worth it.