Beatriz Pacheco has been HIV-positive long enough to notice a change in the way people feel about the disease. In 1997 when she was diagnosed, probably five years after she was infected, the disease was directly associated with drug users, homosexuals, and sex workers. Now, the disease is no longer seen as a threat to just these groups. But Beatriz is still surprised by some people's attitudes. She says many seem uncomfortable as soon as she explains that she is living with the infection.
"I usually say: ‘I’m Beatriz Pacheco, 60 years old, lawyer, mother of four, three grandchildren’. When I say I’ve been living with AIDS for almost 13 years, everything changes. It’s like I’m at a party wearing the wrong outfit."

Bia, as everyone calls her, travels around Brazil giving lectures and taking part in campaigns to educate people about HIV/AIDS. She lives in Rio Grande do Sul, a southern state with a population of 10.5 million, where around 20,000 people were HIV-positive at the end of 2007. She spends most of the day in front of the computer, comforting and informing hundreds of anonymous or unknown message senders and taking good care of the many friends she has made over the years.
"Patients still hide. People still associate AIDS with death. The disease still represents the punishment for the sin", says Beatriz. "If the patient is diagnosed with cancer, he’s sheltered and protected by his family. The patient diagnosed with HIV needs to cry all alone over his fear", she says.

Beatriz first went public about her condition in a TV interview just seven months after she was diagnosed as HIV-positive. Information was scarce back then. She didn’t want to waste her time – she needed to shine a light on the subject, take patients out of the shadows, fight for their right to live a better life.
"I had nothing else to lose. I had to do what I do. My values were changing so much. I am not grateful for being HIV-positive but I am grateful for this opportunity to get to know life."

Beatriz was infected by the first boyfriend she had after her divorce. Her partner had cirrhosis and needed frequent transfusions, at a time when blood wasn’t tested for the HIV virus. He died not knowing he was HIV-positive, and the doctors never realized he was infected. Five years later, Beatriz had already met Carlos Aleixo, a third partner, the one she considers the love of her life, when she started getting pimples on her skin. Doctors did not know what was causing them. Over a year, she saw eight different dermatologists. The last one asked for a HIV test.
"I laughed so much, like as if he was telling me a joke."
After the shocking result, a relief: Carlos was not infected. He supported her as she struggled to come to terms with her changed life. Doctors gave Beatriz just 18 months to live. She started to say her goodbyes, to her children, to life. "A foretold death is frightful. We had our last Christmas, my last birthday."

But then the medicines were finally available on the Brazilian market. The treatment was expensive. Beatriz was deep in debt and lost everything. She cleared her final debt three years ago. Today, she gets the antiretroviral treatment (ART) for free from the government and pays almost US$ 500 every month for complementary medication to ease the side effects caused by the cocktail of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS, such as high cholesterol and hypertension.

Every year, Beatriz is busy in the run-up to World Aids Day on December 1. In November 2008, she slept only three nights at home. She had to slow down because of her health – she could have a stroke anytime, the doctor said. But she doesn’t – and she won’t – stop.
"I’m not afraid of dying. Dying is simple. Depending on others, and facing the prejudice, is the hard part."