Thoughts about HIV prevention with people living with HIV has undergone a revolution. The new concept of 'Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention' focuses on improving and maintaining the dignity of the person living with HIV, which has a positive impact on the person's health, and which, in turn, creates and enabling environment that will reduce the likelihood of new HIV infections.

Key to Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention is an understanding that HIV prevention is a universal goal regardless of a person's HIV status. The vast majority of people living with HIV in the world – an estimated 80%-90% – have not been tested and are unaware of their status.[1]

"Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention highlights the importance of placing the person living with HIV at the centre of managing their health and wellbeing within the socio-cultural and legal context in which they live," says Dr. Kevin Moody: "Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention is a comprehensive approach to supporting people living with HIV with their prevention and social needs, not through fear or coercion but through empowerment and with dignity."

People living with HIV are powerful advocates for HIV prevention, but laws that reinforce HIV-related stigma are impeding these efforts. Failure to recognize oppressive and punitive policy and legal environments results in oversimplified HIV prevention interventions that ignore the full spectrum of challenges shaping many HIV-positive people's prevention needs.

Many of the values, principles and components of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention go hand-in-hand with achieving universal access goals and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Millions of lives depend on the continued scale-up of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programmes.

Vuyiseka Dubula, the General Secretary of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), has underscored that "there is an urgent need to ensure that the goals of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention are achieved and get the same attention as access to treatment. The right to health and human rights needs to be upheld in an environment that is experiencing HIV funding cuts, while also seeing an expansion of laws violating human rights."

Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention was defined during a technical consultation in Tunis in 2009 organised by GNP+ and UNAIDS. Since its conceptualisation, Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention has received the full support of UNAIDS. Michel Sidibe, the UNAIDS Executive Director, states: "UNAIDS is committed to stand by people living with and affected by HIV and promotes the concept of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention. With an approach that is informed by evidence and grounded in human rights, we must all support countries to achieve their universal access goals towards HIV prevention, treatment, care and support."

Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention Technical Consultation, was organised by GNP+ in partnership with UNAIDS - linking issues of HIV treatment, prevention, support and care within a human rights framework. The full consultation report can be accessed in English, French and Spanish here: http://www.gnpplus.net/resources/positive-health-digity-and-prevention/item/17-report-technical-consultation-positive-health-dignity-prevention

The Global Network of People living with HIV is supporting and organizing two sessions around Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention during AIDS 2010:

Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention
Monday 19 July – Plenary session – 08:30-10:30 – SR1

Vuyiseka Dubula of the Treatment Action Campaign will discuss the new framework of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention. The plenary is followed by the "Meet the Plenary Speakers" press conference from 11:00 – 12:00 in Press conference room 1.

Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention: Building the capacity of PLHIV to perform operational research on HIV prevention
Tuesday 20 July - Workshop - 11:00 - 12:30 - Mini Room 6

The workshop focuses on networks of people living with HIV gathering the experiences, perspectives, needs and barriers of PLHIV on Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention and includes case studies of implementing operational research in Bolivia, Tanzania and Vietnam.

For more information please contact Martin Stolk, GNP+ Communications Officer, by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

[1] UNAIDS, AIDS Epidemic Update 2009, Geneva, 2009.