I heard once that Madiba said that stigma and discrimination “kills”. What did he mean by that?

Synonyms for stigma are shame and disgrace. It is a negative word that means that blame is put on people with HIV. To discriminate means to victimise people or to single them out on the basis of a certain characteristic. An example of discrimination against an HIV-positive person is when a company refuses to give someone a job on the basis of his/her infection. In other cases families chase away their HIV-positive relatives when the family finds that person is positive.

Because of this discrimination, people are often scared to disclose their status, or even get tested, in case they are discriminated against. This means that people don’t get the care they need which can be fatal.

I think that Madiba was reminding all of us to be mindful of our actions towards people who are HIV-positive. He was reminding us that sometimes the most painful thing in someone’s life is how other people treat them.

It is very important to realise that HIV is an illness, just like TB, malaria, or high blood pressure. We must also realise that everyone, irrespective of the colour of their skin, the disease they have, the money they have etc, deserves respect because they are human.