Early symptoms of HIV/Aids

Portia caught HIV/Aids from having sex with her blesser without using any protection. This is happening to other young girls too — in fact 67% of new HIV infections are amongst young women between the ages of 13 and 25.

It is possible to catch HIV/Aids and not know at all for years. Sometimes, like Portia, you can get flu-like symptoms a few weeks later. Portia could have got better from these on her own, and then she would not have discovered that she had caught the virus. But luckily she was persuaded to go to the doctor. And, because she got tested, she knew early on. This made treatment much easier and more effective than if she had left it and not found out. As Tsietsi says, she can live a normal life if she takes her medication and has a healthy lifestyle. You can read more about HIV/Aids here

Edwin Cameron

Edwin Cameron is a famous South African who was a Constitutional Court Judge and human-rights activist. Nelson Mandela called him one of South Africa’s new heroes. When he contracted HIV in the 1980s, he could afford to pay for the very expensive anti-retroviral treatment that saved his life. He became an advocate for treatment to be made available to all.