World AIDS Day is commemorated across the globe on 1 December to raise awareness and unite communities in the fight against HIV.
In commemoration of the day, the eThekwini Municipality shared a Facebook post urging the community to make responsible health choices.
“Get your health checked, take action once you know, live smart and live healthy,” read the post.
According to the World AIDS Day website, the awareness day was founded in 1988.
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“World AIDS Day is important because it reminds the public and government that HIV has not gone away – there is still a vital need to raise money, increase awareness, fight prejudice and improve education. World AIDS Day is an opportunity to show solidarity with the millions of people living with HIV worldwide. Most people do this by wearing an HIV awareness red ribbon on the day,” read the site.
In a statement on the South African government website, government highlighted the importance of addressing stigma and discrimination around HIV/AIDS.
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“Stigma and discrimination can be as devastating as the illness itself and may mean abandonment by a partner or family, social exclusion, job and property loss, school expulsion, denial of medical services, lack of care and support, and violence for those affected by them. These consequences, or fear of them, mean that people are less likely to come in for HIV testing, disclose their HIV status to others, adopt HIV preventive behaviour or access treatment, care and support,” read the statement.
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