Living With HIV
According to UNAIDS, an estimated 40-million people are HIV-positive worldwide and about 5-million of those live in South Africa (also see: UNAIDS World AIDS Day report 2011).
With over 10% of South Africa's population living with HIV, it is one of the largest constituencies in the country and one which journalists come into contact with every day, whether they know it or not. The rights and responsibilities of HIV-positive people have come under the media spotlight, especially through high-profile court cases involving antiretroviral treatment, discrimination in the workplace and the right to privacy and confidentiality.
This section summarises the rights of people living with HIV and how specific laws protect them. It also explores some of the responsibilities that people living with HIV have, including disclosure to their sexual partners, practicing safer sex and living a healthy lifestyle.
It also looks at the factors that contributed to the development of the HIV stigma and how the stigma manifests itself in the lives of HIV-positive people and through the media. Finally it covers the role of home-based care and palliative care for people living with HIV.
