Over the past few months, the Positively Alive Podcast guests ranged from policymakers to professionals, activists, and influencers who constantly fight against HIV, AIDS, and stigma. They have taken us on an extraordinary journey from the early days of HIV and AIDS to the progress that we have made to this date.

Despite the success obtained toward ending the HIV epidemic, our fight is not over. Now, more than ever, when we are so close to finding a cure, we need all the funding and the support that we can get.

On today’s episode, which happens to be the last one of this series, I make a summary of the main subjects we discussed over the past 15 episodes.  

I’d like to thank and acknowledge our guests, once again, for being a part of the Positively Alive journey and for their constant effort against HIV and AIDS:

• Professor Peter Piot – World-renowned Belgian microbiologist;
• Dr. Alison Rodger – Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University College of London;
• Lloyd Russell-Moyle – A distinguished Member of Parliament;
• Bruce Richman – the Founding Executive Director of PAC;
• Edwin Cameron – a retired judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa;
• Marlene Wasserman (Dr. Eve) – couples and sex therapist, clinical sexologist and sexual medicine consultant;
• Mark Van Der Merwe – HIV awareness activist based in South Africa;
• Dr. Anthony Fauci – the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States;
• Paul Kawata – the Director of the National Minority AIDS Council;
• Ravindra Gupta – an Infectious Diseases clinician with a specific focus on HIV;
• Emma Cole – an HIV activist from the UK;
• Professor Dr. Linos Vandekerckhove – the principal investigator at the HIV Cure Research Center in Ghent, Belgium;
• Maggie De Block – the Belgian Minister of Social Affairs and Health;
• Patrick Reyntiens – an HIV and AIDS activist from Belgium;
• Jennifer Vaughan – the white single mother of three who did not fit the high-risk profile prior to her diagnosis in 2016.

You can still support, raise awareness, and be a part of our cause, by accessing the Positively Alive Resources:

• Website
• Positively Alive Youtube Channel
• Instagram
• Facebook Group
• Facebook Page
• Twitter
• Donate

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Dealing with the news of being HIV positive is hard for every individual, and it is even harder to live with HIV when you don’t fully and honestly disclose your status so that you can find support and encouragement from the people around you – both HIV positive and negative.

In today’s episode, I talk with Patrick about the benefits you have when you publicly admit that you are HIV positive, and about some of the places where you can find the support you need.

Patrick Reyntiens received his HIV diagnosis in the 1980s and he rapidly became public with his status. Since then, he is educating people in schools or other organizations about HIV and the obstacles, oppositions, and trials of all kinds of struggles that accompany it, showing them how to live without secrets, discrimination or stigmatization.

So, listen to Episode 14 of Positively Alive, to learn about Patrick’s views on HIV as a long-term survivor of AIDS.

Questions I ask:

• Could you please tell us a little bit about your story and how you were able to deal with this devastating news at the time? (03:13)
• I can imagine that back in the '80s you have probably lost a lot of friends and people that you knew, from HIV and Aids. How did you deal with that fear yourself? (04:46)
• You said that you organize weekends, two times a year. What exactly happens during those weekends? (08:58)
• How has the response been to these weekends, from the people that attend? (10:36)
• What made you decide to go public so quickly and what were the initial reactions of the people around you? (18:17)
• What is your message to a person who gets diagnosed with HIV today, on how to best approach this new reality and then, how to continue living with HIV in the future? (30:04)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• The importance of making contacts and connecting with people living with HIV. (06:13)
• The difference between taking your treatment in the ‘80s versus now. (11:59)
• What Patrick means when he says, “We should aim at normalizing HIV, but not at trivializing it.” (16:15)
• Patrick’s message for people who are thinking of getting public with their status. (21:06)
• The differences and the similarities between stigma in homosexual and heterosexual communities. (24:05)
• About Belgium’s largest Sexual Health Organization called, “Sensoa”. (27:06)

Connect with Patrick:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Sensoa

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.