Q: One of my friends had sex at the age of 8-11 years. She was not aware about it at that time. Now she is very tense and keeps asking me whether she will get AIDS? It seems that she had not started with her periods at that time. Can you please tell me how I can help her?

A:You do not mention how old your friend is now or how long ago she had sex. If the episode was more than 3 to 6 months ago, she can have an HIV test. You can help her in that and she need not use her real name. If she is negative, even on one test she was lucky and did not get HIV infection. If she had no signs of any infection then she probably did not get any Sexually Transmitted Infection and she need not worry about having children when the time comes. Please tell her she must avoid intercourse until she gets married. If she cannot avoid having sex, the male partner must use a condom from start to finish but she must understand that a condom does not offer 100% protection.