Positive Living, Rights and Support for People Living with HIV

1Why this matters

Someone in your school, your family or your neighbourhood is very likely to be living with HIV, perhaps without you knowing. With treatment, people living with HIV (often shortened to PLHIV) study, work, marry, raise healthy children and grow old. How well they live depends partly on their own choices, and partly on the support and respect they receive from everyone around them, including you.

2Positive living

Positive living means taking active steps to stay healthy and live fully while living with HIV.

• Take ART every day, at the same time. Taking medicines exactly as prescribed is called adherence. Missed doses let the virus multiply again and can make it resistant to the medicines.
• Attend clinic visits for check-ups, viral load tests and refills.
• Eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit, vegetables, beans and other proteins, and drink safe water.
• Avoid alcohol, smoking and drugs, which harm the body and make adherence harder.
• Exercise and rest to keep the body and mind strong.
• Prevent and treat other infections early, for example by sleeping under a mosquito net, being screened for TB, and seeking care quickly when ill.
• Protect partners with condoms and by keeping the viral load undetectable.
• Look after mental health: talk to people you trust, join a support group, and plan for the future.

3The rights of people living with HIV

People living with HIV have exactly the same human rights as everyone else. These include the right:

• to health care, including testing, counselling and treatment;
• to education: no school may refuse or expel a student because of HIV;
• to work: HIV status is not a reason to refuse a job or to dismiss someone;
• to privacy and confidentiality: a person's HIV status is their own information. Tests need the person's consent, and results may not be shared without permission;
• to marry and have a family: with PMTCT, parents living with HIV can have children who are free of HIV;
• to be free from discrimination, and to take part fully in community life.

4Support: who helps, and how

Sexuality education, like this unit, is itself a programme that supports positive living: accurate knowledge helps young people protect themselves, reduces fear, and makes it easier for PLHIV to be accepted.

Worked example: a classmate's news

Umutoni, 15, tells her closest friend Keza that she was born with HIV and takes ART every day. What should Keza do?

1. Respect confidentiality. Umutoni has shared private information. Keza must not tell anyone else without Umutoni's permission; it is Umutoni's right to decide who knows.
2. Use the facts. Keza cannot catch HIV from sharing a desk, food or a hug. Umutoni is on ART, so she can study, play sport and plan her future like anyone else.
3. Support positive living. Keza can help in small ways: being understanding when Umutoni leaves for a clinic visit, or encouraging her if she feels low.
4. Know when to involve an adult. If Umutoni is being bullied, or says she has stopped taking her medicine, Keza should encourage her to talk to a trusted teacher, the school counsellor or her health worker.

Practice