Everyone in South Africa is encouraged, from individuals to communities, businesses and government, to take personal and collective responsibility to stop new HIV infections, to give care and support to those with HIV, and to ensure access to treatment for people in need.
People who are HIV positive or have been diagnosed with Aids have the same rights as everyone else.
Human dignity
Everyone has the right to have their dignity respected and protected. A person or institution (e.g. a hospital or company) may not insult or damage any person's self-respect, by their words or action.
Education
You have the same right as anyone else to basic or adult basic education. A school cannot refuse to educate you or your child because you have HIV or Aids.
This document contains information on the management of HIV/AIDS in schools and the rights and responsibilities of learners, educators and parents with regards to HIV/AIDS. Answers are provided to some of the common questions such as whether HIV positive learners can be excluded from school, whether schools can test learners for HIV and how schools can prevent the risk of HIV transmission in the school environment. Advice is also provided on drafting a school HIV/AIDS policy.
Mother-to-child transmission of HIV is the most common way young children contract the virus and happens when HIV is passed from a mother to her unborn baby during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding.
An effective Prevention of Mother to Child Transmissions (PMTCT) programme requires mothers and their babies to:
Treatment is available for opportunistic infections that, unlike HIV, are mostly curable. These include diarrhoea, tuberculosis, pneumonia and candida (oral or vaginal thrush), which an HIV-positive person can pick up easily
Voluntary Testing and Counselling (VCT) is available at ATICC, as well as at most clinics of public health facilities. The decision to be tested is a voluntary one - no one can be forced to have an HIV test.
The three main steps to be followed are pre-test counselling, testing and post-test counselling.