These stereotypes, which are still dominant, contribute to wastage of social resources that could be helping to reduce useless suffering. It is urgent to deal with health workers’ prejudices and help them to work through their anxieties about the future of the family members they are treating, particularly the children. Health and education programmes for those with HIV should not be contributing to the stigmatisa- tion and lack of support that end up producing social exclusion, and consequently the ‘‘mal- adjusted behaviour’’ that those with HIV are stereotypically thought to have