ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

The “HIV/AIDS” Phenomenon level of knowledge perceptions and atitudes 251needs to be taken into consideration. If it was contracted as a result of a sexualrelationship it is a sin, in the Christian way of thinking, but a sero-positive whohas been infected thru a blood transfusion doesn`t have any guilt. But there werepoints of view according to which HIV infection is the result of a sin and itsexistance is a blamable fact in itself 26 . Many priests have put the accent on theneed to have normal behavior towards the sero-positives which means the fightagainst any form of discrimination. The participants at the focus groups haveemphasized the attitude of some people of putting aside the infected ones, thedramatic exclusion the sick people often suffer when those around them find outabout the dramatic diagnosis. That`s why, according to some opinions whichhave been expressed in the case of the AIDS infected, the diagnosis shouldn`t berevealed to those around them 27 . But still, often the accent was oncontaminating other people in the situation in which the sick person and thosearound him are not cautious or when the diagnosis “is a secret” 28 . Even with thefear of exclusion, the sick shouldn`t give up on adequate education forthemselves, as well as for those in their surroundings to avoid contamination. 29Anyway most of the participants at the focus groups were considering that theseropositives should be aware and responsable towars protecting the family andthe community. 30Fear of death is a serious matter with which the sero-positives confrontthemselves. It is appreciated 31 that the priests can be a great source of help forthe sick, can get close to them and make them receptive to the fact that all people26“We should all feel ashamed because AIDS is the consequence of sin.” (priestConstanţa)27 “We first need complete discretion because the mentallity of society is deadly. If in aschool there is an AIDS sick child the parents start to move their children from that school. So,total discretion. And, at the same time, let`s not show mercy towards that person. They don`t needmercy and judgement. They need care not mercy. And don`t judge him. Accept him as he is”.(priest Dolj)28“If I would have such a case, I would advice him to be more careful. His familyshould be careful not to contaminate other people. So besides the advice which he received if hewas diagnosed in the hospital then the entire family should be informed especially the closestones, because it could damage them. From what I have read and have seen on tv there are cases inwhich not even the general practicioner is not informed which is very damaging.” (priest Iaşi)29“There is not enough education in school for the AIDS infected. They treat thedisease superficially. They don`t realize its gravity and the danger of contaminating the others. Istayed in school for a long time. A sero-positive girl had the same classmate sitting next to her forfour years (grades 1 to 8). The relationship between them seemed normal. But I`m not convincedthat they were aware of the high danger for infection and they were both taking measures in thisway. Education needs to be done.” (priest Constanţa)30 “The sick people should go very often to their doctor who can instruct them to protectothers around them. Doctors are the best to know the ways of stopping the disease.” (priestConstanţa)31 “When the person doesn’t have training concerning his relationship with death he`sdesperate and he closes in on himself,” according to the opinion of a priest from Timis. The priest canbring his support to the situation and his means should be different then the ones of the psychologisteven if the psychologist himself could approach the problems of the end. “ (Priest Timiş).