Living With HIV/AIDS

According to UNAIDS, an estimated 40-million people are HIV-positive worldwide and about 5-million of those live in South Africa (also see: Statistics Factsheet).

With over 10% of South Africa’s population living with HIV/AIDS, 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 factsheet summarises the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and how specific laws protect them. It also explores some of the responsibilities that people living with HIV/AIDS have, including disclosure to their sexual partners, practicing safer sex and living a healthy lifestyle.

The factsheet also looks at the factors that contributed to the development of the HIV/AIDS 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/AIDS.