1st December every year is World AIDS Day. In 2005, the BBC Northamptonshire website decided to give HIV+ people the chance to make a film. The subject matter and message of the film was their own choice. The BBC's Martin Borley offered advice, shot and edited the film for them.
The three people featured are all clients of Positive In Northamptonshire, a charity that gives advice and support to people with HIV/AIDS and their friends and family.
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All of those involved were reluctant to show their faces. They fear that people will treat them badly if they find out they're HIV positive. "Ignorance is to blame," says one participant. The first person you'll see is a mother who discovered she was HIV+ when she was expecting her baby. Although the words you hear are her own, her voice is that of an actor.
The message of the film is 'it could happen to you'. The participants felt that too many people think that HIV/AIDS only affects 'other people'. The latest health authority figures for Northamptonshire show that 253 people were diagnosed as being HIV+ or having AIDS in 2004. Just over half were male.
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165 people contracted HIV through having sex between men and women.
58 men contracted HIV through having sex with another man.
Other ways of getting HIV are injecting yourself with drugs (6 people), transmission from mother to child (15 people) and receiving infected blood (8 people). There is no cure for HIV/AIDS but modern drugs mean that life continues. In 2004, no one in Northamptonshire died from AIDS. The charity Positive In Northamptonshire emphasises that people with HIV have fulfilling lives; their slogan is 'Still Life with HIV'.
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