Tackling misunderstanding

Personal wellbeing is about a whole lot more than just good health. Even if a person living with HIV is able to stay fit and able, he or she can still be dragged down by social factors such as rejection and mistrust.

When someone is sidelined by society on account of their HIV status, that person's self-esteem and sense of worth in the community are bound to take a big knock. That's what makes stigma such a major issue today.

It is now more than 30 years since HIV first appeared in our world. Over those three decades, how many people have taken the trouble to understand the virus – what it is, what it does, how it is transferred from person to person? If each one of us becomes more HIV-aware, our Church will become more HIV-competent, and that has to be a good thing.

We all need to take stigma seriously because it is a blight on the lives of many, whether those who are stigmatised or those who are guilty of doing the stigmatising.

Don't give in to ignorance: if we can all learn about HIV we can help beat this virus, which damages in more ways than just physically.