features - issue 78
the world's most powerful positive woman
positive nation

- like terrorism, conflict, global recession and fragile democracies - and it's very easy to put

aside Aids. I say the epidemic is like a visitor who has stayed too long and now has to chop wood, pay for their dinner and sing for their supper.
"It is important that there are people willing to push the agenda and particularly on resource mobilisation so that donor countries and rich foundations put money into Aids work.
"It's not just the HIV charities that are involved in the Stop Aids Campaign, it's also the big multi-national mainstream charities like Oxfam and Save the Children Fund and they have so much more power and credibility. This really helps access people who hold the purse strings. They have connections with heads of state, big corporations as well as grass roots organisations.
"Everyone in my country knows people who have died from Aids. We all live with Aids on a daily basis - in our houses, in the villages. People are dying, children are orphaned and it's a very painful thing to see the impact that HIV has every day. And because most people with HIV don't know they have it you only find out when people become very ill and show up at hospitals.
"There's still a lot of fear and denial attached to HIV. Some people may be living within proximity of testing facilities but they still don't go for tests and they think that by putting their heads in the sand the problem will go away."
Is that why you do what you do, Milly, in order to become a public face with HIV?
"People get bored with percentages and don't see statistics as human beings. So it's very important that people with HIV come out so as to help and break down the

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denial and the fear that still surrounds the epidemic.

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