Abstract

The HIV/AIDS epidemic constitutes an unprecedented phenomenon affecting not only health but all aspects of life for a person living with HIV/AIDS from marriage and intimate relations to child-bearing and parenthood, to work and social functioning, and to psychological and spiritual well-being. There is a large and growing literature on psychosocial and spiritual aspects of cancer, which is probably the disease most akin to HIV/AIDS in its inspiration of fear and its threat to life and well-being. It may be said that perceptions of HIV/AIDS are much like perceptions of cancer 50 years ago: a usually fatal, essentially incurable disease associated with stigma and a sense of hopelessness. Since 1996, advances in treatment options with combination therapies have improved the ability to treat a large proportion of HIV-infected individuals and significantly decrease mortality.