Limit your number of sexual partners.
Never share needles.
Use condoms correctly and regularly.
Antiretroviral (ART) drug use for prevention When someone with HIV takes effective ART treatment it reduces their viral load to undetectable levels. This means the level of HIV virus in the blood is so low that it can't be detected by a test. Having an undetectable viral load for 6 months or more means it isn't possible to pass the virus on during sex. This is called undetectable=untransmittable (U=U), which can also be referred to as "treatment as prevention".
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV-negative partner Another preventive approach for people at increased risk of HIV infection (e.g. people whose partner are HIV positive) involves taking a daily dose of an ARV drug. ARV is available as a tablet, and is to be taken by the HIV negative partner before they are exposed to HIV.
Post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV (PEP) If you think you've been exposed to the virus, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) medication may stop you becoming infected. PEP involves taking HIV treatment every day for 1 month, but the treatment must start within 72 hours of coming into contact with the virus to be effective. It's only recommended following higher risk exposure, particularly where the sexual partner is known to be positive.
PEP includes counselling, first aid care, HIV testing, and administration of a 28-day course of ARV drugs with follow-up care.
Currently, no preventive HIV vaccines have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but approximately 30,000 people have participated in HIV vaccine studies around the world in the last 25 years.
Clinical trials for a preventive HIV vaccine consist of giving the vaccine to people who do not have HIV, with the goal of preventing HIV infection in the future.
The vaccine would teach the person’s immune system to recognize and effectively fight HIV in case the person is ever exposed to HIV.
HIV transmission from mother-to-child can be fully prevented if both the mother and the baby are provided with ARV drugs as early as possible in pregnancy and during the period of breastfeeding.
Source: World Health Organization