Aids in South Africa has become a reality and the stigma of the disease appears to be diminishing, dpa said quoting a study released Wednesday. Most South Africans were willing to care for an infected relative and around 79.8 per cent opposed the exclusion of HIV-positive children from schools, according to the second South African HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communications Survey for 2005. The survey commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Foundation also found that nearly half of South Africans aged 15 or older had no problem with the idea of marrying an infected person or having sex with them. "These results suggest that South Africans are accepting HIV/AIDS as a reality in South Africa and that stigmatisation in society is becoming less of a factor, especially in urban areas," said Olive Shisana of the Human Sciences Research Council, the body that undertook the survey. South Africa has among the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence worldwide with more than five million or a tenth of the population infected. Older respondents showed confusion as to whether AIDS was caused by the HIV virus, a "worrying trend" that could be attributed to a "general misunderstanding", according to the survey. Although 66 per cent of respondents believed they were not at risk of contracting the disease, some tested positive for the Aids virus after answering the survey. "Put another way, over two million people who are HIV positive in South Africa do not think they are at risk. This means they may be unaware of their risk of potentially infecting others," Shisana was quoted as saying. No more than 20 per cent of the country's 45 million people know their HIV/AIDS status.
