What is Community Positive Living?

People who have been diagnosed with HIV need to change their lives completely. Taking antiretroviral drugs, eating a balanced diet, joining a support group: all these activities are part of positive living. After a positive HIV test, clinical staff give counselling on positive living and, for those who are literate, information can be found in various leaflets.

However, adherence to anti-retroviral treatment is not as high as should be and many people drop out of their treatment programmes. After dropping out, you can’t go back. Only second-line treatments will be effective and these are only available at a cost in Zambia.

Community Positive Living means that it is not only the person who is living with the virus who needs to ‘live positively’, the whole community should be involved. The vast majority of people are positive or have family members who are positive. Therefore, it’s very important that all these people known about ART adherence, nutrition, coping skills and basic home health care. We also need to work hard to combat stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.

What does SAPEP do?

AIDS Action Clubs work closely with support groups for people living with HIV and AIDS, building their capacity and supporting them in any way they can. It is important that these support groups are empowered to become self-reliant