DO:

• It is just a disease & nothing more, an AIDS/HIV patient will not want/need any less or more support than someone with a flu. Don’t under or over do it.
• Provide them family and social support and be a part of their life as you were prior to disclosure of the infection
• Allow them to get back to their work as soon as soon as he / she is physically fit, since HIV infection doesn’t require special rest
• Make efforts to reduce their stress, Encourage them to exercise and meditate as these help prolong the life span
• Provide them with a high protein, high vitamin diet, persuade them to stop all addictions such as tobacco cigarettes, alcohol or other psychotropic / recreational drugs
• Take immediate steps to treat even minor ailments. However, it is not necessary to disclose their HIV status to their family physician
• Advise them to use safe sex (condoms) with their sex partner, even if partner is already HIV positive
• Help fight the discrimination meted out to them by hospitals , doctors and employers
• Educate family members and friends about HIV / AIDS, if they already know the HIV status of the patient.
• Remember like any illness how much and what others know about patient’s health/disease is their PERSONAL choice, respect that always.

DONT:

• Don’t accuse them for getting infected, it doesn’t help
• Don’t try to probe into when, where the person was infected
• Don’t make them feel guilty
• Don’t isolate them in their home / workplace
• Don’t separate them from spouse or children, since they are the best support for them. It is important for them to spend quality family time together
• Don’t use gloves in feeding the infected person or to wipe off his saliva, sweat, nasal secretions and tears
• Don’t share razors, tooth brush and other sharp objects with infected person or for that matter with anybody else
• It is not necessary to wash their clothes separately
• Don’t disclose the HIV status of infected person to friends, employer and insurance company
• Don’t humiliate the infected person, his / her spouse or children
• Don’t scare them of suffering and death. In the terminal stage, prepare them for a smooth journey to death
• Don’t get conned by the fake claims, false cures, witch hunters and faith healers. Wait for declaration of the noble prize for the real cure
• Don’t spend the entire available money limit in the first bout of illness; it may be the first of such illnesses in the pipeline. Make a proper planning of your spending capability.
• Don’t take many relatives to see the patient admitted in hospital
• Don’t test for HIV repeatedly, once the presence of infection is established it remains there forever

When dealing with a person living with HIV / AIDS  the bottom line is that you must treat them, the way out would like to be treated if you were infected with HIV. And HIV is just another disease, not a crime!

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