9.1. Community must accept and care

A community is a group of people living in the same area or attending the same church, school, soccer club, village activities, etc. Communities are very important in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Working together, we can ensure that:
* HIV infection is prevented in our communities
* We help people manage their HIV positive status
* We assist those who have become AIDS sick
* We manage the effects of AIDS deaths like taking care of a family without a mother or father or both parents.
Communities need to make sure that people realise that HIV and AIDS should be treated as an illness and not as a scandal that has to be kept a secret. Community members need to become more caring towards people living with HIV and AIDS so that people living with HIV do not fear stigma and discrimination. When people fear discrimination they are more likely to try and hide their illness. Often they do not want to attend a clinic or hospital in case somebody sees them. When they do not take their medication regularly they can become very ill and die. They will also develop resistant strains to the virus if they do not manage to stick to the medication as per the prescription. This means that they may develop a virus that will not respond to any medication. If they infect others with this resistant virus, antitretrovirals (ARV) might not work anymore.


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