APPROACHING THE HIV EPIDEMIC - THE COMMUNITY RESPONSE

The HIV epidemic comes to people's attention through the language of i ts texts and its spokespersons. The way it is brought to people's atte ntion will be the critical determinant of how they will respond to it. Currently, the discourse is based on metaphors of epicentres of sprea d identified as core transmitter groups. These are metaphors of distan cing which encourage blame and denial. There are, however, within affe cted communities, new discourses emerging of inclusion, empowerment an d processes and of the complexity of the reality of the epidemic. Thes e discourses are associated with a new way of responding to the epidem ic described here as one of community mobilization.