HIV, not a Preity picture

For actor Preity Zinta, World Aids Day means much more than sporting a red ribbon or lighting up heritage sites. For her, it's a chance to tell people that a friend with HIV is still a friend. This UNAIDS ambassador opens up to CS:

Being positive
Many people don't understand the ways HIV is transmitted, how it can be prevented, how it is treated and what it means to be a person living with HIV today. Many people therefore make wrong judgements about people living with HIV and associate it with a certain behaviour.

Therefore, the best way to battle stigma associated with HIV is educating our communities, talk openly about the epidemic and encourage people living with HIV in their communities to talk about what their struggles.

When you see and feel that a person living with HIV is like any other person in the community, you will understand that the negative views associated with the virus are unjust.

Teach, not preach
I feel that sex education is very important. I feel that perhaps it also is a chance for school teachers to talk about abstinence.

Girls and boys in Standard X onwards need to be spoken to about sex, sexuality, STDs and HIV as they are entering a new phase of lives.

Cinema speak
There have been a few films on HIV that were sensitively handled like Phir Milenge. Even though the audience appreciates such films, it often tends to ignore the message.

I believe we all have a notion that AIDS can't happen to us. We could make more mainstream films or send out messages like prevention of HIV or ending stigma and discrimination as visual messages especially through cinema can be powerful.