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First internet site for HIV-positive love

A South African man has created the world's first website for people living with HIV/AIDS to get together and find love. The webmaster of the site, "Positive Connection", Ben Sassman, said he got the idea after seeing what loneliness was doing to his HIV-positive friends. However, local clinical sexologist, Elna McIntosh, was not completely sold on the idea. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) quoted McIntosh as saying: "I don't think that we should even have websites like that because it almost reinforces that HIV-positive people should only be mixing with [other] HIV-positive people." Sassman said 30 people had already signed up to the "completely confidential" site and six other countries had shown an interest in linking up.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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