Texts for Translation 2008:
  Justice Edwin Cameron

Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa

World AIDS Day message
Edwin Cameron
Supreme Court of Appeal

On Friday 7 December I was privileged to be invited as the guest speaker to the IDC’s World AIDS Day observance.

So much gloom surrounds AIDS.  And so many of us experience so much pain and difficulty on these occasions.  We think of the loved ones – the family and colleagues and friends we've lost to AIDS.  We think of those who are unwell from HIV-related illnesses now.  And we think of those in denial – perhaps including ourselves.

So I decided to come to the IDC to deliver a definitely up-beat and positive message to the IDC staff members who shared the observance with me. 

A message of good news.  A message of hope.  And a message of shared action.

My message was three-pronged.  We can deal with AIDS effectively by accessing treatment, combating stigma, and increasing our prevention and awareness efforts.

The first and most important message about AIDS is that it is a medically manageable condition.  A fully treatable condition.  In most cases – the overwhelming majority of cases, well over 90% – all HIV-related illness can be successfully treated.  In fact, some AIDS specialists are saying that under correct medical supervision it is easier to deal with AIDS than other chronic manageable conditions like high blood pressure. 

That’s an astonishing thought – but once you're on the right regimen of medication, and your immune system is functioning once more, for most people few further medical interventions are needed. 

In November 2007, just before the IDC occasion, I celebrated ten years of life and health and vigour on anti-retroviral medication – I started in November 1997, when I was dying of AIDS, and the drugs have kept me wholly healthy since then – I see my doctor twice a year for check-ups and blood tests, none of which have been able to detect live virus in my blood for many years.

As I emphasised in response to a thoughtful question, that doesn’t mean that I'm cured.  There is no cure for AIDS, and anyone who says there is a cure is a quack and a charlatan.  I remain HIV positive – and if I ever cease taking my medication, within a relatively short time I will become very sick indeed.

So the first message is about medical treatment.  AIDS is manageable.  It is not a death sentence.  Deal with it as a treatable condition – not a horror story.  Engage with the epidemic – deal with it practically and realistically.  Get over phobias and fears and aversions.  With proper medical care, AIDS is manageable. 

The second message of hope and action follows from the first.  It is this.  Get over stigma.  Stop treating AIDS as something alien.  It isn't.  It’s here – it’s amongst us, in our country, in our people. 

And start with yourself.  First and foremost, have yourself tested for HIV – and if you’ve been tested already, test again.  You don’t need to fear the result as a death sentence.

So we must stop treating HIV infection and AIDS-related illnesses as something weird.  It’s not weird.  Or, at least, not weirder than any other viral condition. 

AIDS is a bodily syndrome caused by a virus – a virus that effective medication stops in its tracks, leaving the infected person to resume a normal health life. 

So the second crucial message is that we must stop stigma.  That means stopping blame, moralism, condemnation.  That means ending abnormal responses to HIV infection.  The only truly exceptional response that HIV now calls for are continuing anti-discrimination measures.  For the rest, let’s accept that we have a massive epidemic in this country, in this region, and let’s get on with dealing with it as effectively, practically, humanely and quickly as we’re able.

The third message I delivered to IDC for World AIDS Day is about continuing, unceasing, never-ending awareness and prevention.  It is this.  Beware.  Although AIDS is now medically manageable, you'd be silly to expose yourself to the risk of getting it.  So don’t.  Please don’t. 

I have HIV – and I can assure you that you don’t want to have it.  Though I'm joyfully grateful that medical care and treatment gave me my life back ten years ago, I can assure you that it’s not convenient to have to take pills for the rest of my life. 

Also, as I emphasised in answer to another excellent question from one of your IDC colleagues, we must never under-estimate the difficulty of calibrating HIV medication.  There is a risk of side-effects – which can sometimes (though rarely) be fatal.  And you do need regular medical those check-ups! 

Just as I don’t want high blood pressure or diabetes, or any other inconvenient chronic condition, in addition to having HIV, you don’t want HIV.  So love carefully, protectively, respectfully.

If you're HIV negative, stay that way.  It’s not difficult.  HIV is in fact hard to transmit.  And precautions are simple.  But we must empower all people to be able to love safely.  And to be able to stay out of HIV’s way.

So, for this World AIDS Day, let’s remember that AIDS is medically treatable, that stigma is irrational and unnecessary, and that we must continue, unceasingly, unremittingly, unendingly, with our prevention and awareness and sexual empowerment messages. 

A combination of effective prevention, effective treatment and an end to stigma.  That gives us something to work positively on for World AIDS Day 2008!

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